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I M 1 1 ; i MM'.',- 1 1 1 ! , I, H ' ' ! 1 ’ > H I i ! : M .M M i-v , 1 I i ( ‘ ' I * , 1 1 i , I I t , , t ' * I I I .k 1 [ ! ! M '•MlMMillllili i:.lKt!!;.tii; J 1 1 ■ii'.;l;“:i: ;;; ! i . I i jii i' '"jl iV I < w I • 1 I ! r ( » ii'l ' M M L I M' 1 I >1 • '(I, Ml ' M 1 1 ^ < , 1 I J I MMii'MiiMliIiMf-k H, ■ •/ ' r f r i'lMfl'M-i'' t ii*: ‘V ' t I *. ' • ' I M ,v /o - 9. 2,d, LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund. ^^2625 .J6 ^oint Committee Survey of J^’stian literature in Ch Mo Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/christianliteratOOjoin •* ?T?^r' UvV' ' • !• \ t'^' ' ''fi‘ ‘ ^ CHRISTIAN LITERATURE rk- ’ ' j v* L i.|i \ ', 1 1** V'**^ : W' ' ‘'''‘ . . ■'» ,IN MOSLEM LANDS i',; ',: :V .i'lH'; .- „ ^.. ' . - . ' 5 r/- .%<, . i. . .:: ■ ‘ 'A- ■ . I', ' ‘ . .';*j V>?f •r^ ' fSf- iVyk J t ' ■ 0- '..1 * 'V:* V ;*'• - - '. A •; .=; n^. iaR__. . ,. ' •, !“vx>>. . 4’ .. '\ .1 .-v 1 » * ^ ||^/&; V _v V> .•'''/ 'A ^ •■•'.'■’' A i -, ^1 -' , *■ -h ■ . ’ ■ »■■ . ''.^'-si '‘MS 'i-*' / . VI ^ kr . '^ i If ^ il'. V' *.'"1 ‘ T r* v<^^■ .(♦* h'Vv'^r? ''Vf'.v; ■ •■ ^ ^ ■m' l, ' . 1 wi'-i-;Vr‘.> ■’'A';".' ', \’'f • j. ' ■'. '’'A* 'Vi*-- .' *-' • V t ' \r ,■-■ flMM . >■ rOJA r-* ' t •^ *1 > ' M i.nHB < i£u» '■ I# • , V i •■■ A' i** ^'i'--' ?'■..■> . ',:: vB ;.' ' >r/jst4? .'. ''■• '‘-*’8 fc /" > ' ♦ ' \j » ' ' ' ■ 1^' ' v-«Vf\v I?- ^ ■ ■ ‘. '• . *»'f ’H . !V*i ' • » *.•'>" '*v Ak»} '‘’v'' i*»r. ■ ,> ; i,' Imv ■ ■ jiir / , *., ,i' • •. '.i , .' ' ' » . , . 'Vi ■,*. Vm ^ •«'ii ' ma'i : ■ ■• '■■. . ■ ....'-.aw** , S'fefAir-. ' .' ‘■i ;, >;' .v'.;. ‘V s isJivV a V »' * -* ‘ V*'".' fi*'').,., ,. TV ' ,* . • f fi\ _ . J L V C* \' i ■ y fA _t^. r' " )' '' ♦ !■ tV’i*! '' y* , • . v* .:v** / .... y -V . , I ■; ' . «•, *" f- ' A ^ 1 ‘ t‘ . • , i |l . k ■ ' . V ‘ \\ 4VI s lijii--.— « .>1 <■- .tsB. I The Committee on Social and Religions Sur¬ veys, which is responsible for this publication, was organised in January, ip2i. The Commit¬ tee conducts and publishes studies and surveys and promotes conferences for their considera¬ tion. Its aim is to combine the scientific method with the religious motive. It cooperates with other social and religious agencies, but is itself an independent organization. The Committee is composed of: John R. Mott, Chairman; Ernest D. Burton, Secretary; Raymond B. Fosdick, Treasurer; James L. Bar¬ ton; W. H. P. Faunce, and Kenyon L. Butter¬ field. Galen M. Fisher is Executive Secretary. The offices are at j/o Seventh Avenue, New York City, k; i ■-■ '1? > i,'^*C'i^ i r.-, •■--- .y m ^•.» •**" ^ ■ « *^ «*• '»4r* 'lS!^>' ^ ••' -'V'' '■ \ ■ WE^ ' V ‘ • I HvuWs ’ < f 4 *- » ^ * •■ V# ». * . .*■ i - • I' _iiiiU:v9V '■.» ’ . ■■ • - ^• ■ 'V . ir*j. • * ^ C , .- - "*. i- ■ - .. • . „ . * i V *• '■ *;- ' .- V ^ • ^ ' BV- ’ » ^ • "%m ^ vry .' > , > •;> A'Vt . .. . i '■>- ■ ' A ' , V • A - *A ‘ iA' WP™® •>\ ’’i- i' > ■ ' • • /*»/ ii*. V - * •*;/ ■' ' ^■*'1 <- ■ / * t ► •• I - ^ - - r>v A .tv- '^-i 9»t. '. j^- ’ ^ ■■ - I. •' » I t . ■• ^ . V .- ■^. '.V ■ 'r A- I %L -'•U- -;:.' ■ -"‘v • -‘V ^ '* •■> *> . ’'■ -rK r- ' -/ « iOfSs A. .*^''=-- _, 'T, -f . v' '.' ‘*1 *w .-» vA i.1 ^ ..'^•'i iw / a^-f :'■ ■’ '> 3 • P f • ' i i ■ • *. ' • ■ ^ ■ . . c- */•» ^ . . ^ *2 ' ' ; '•-. A ' ■' ■\ . r m^'rn 1 > • ■ • j t •■ \4 ' ■'. ■’• 1 ■'. •'.' • '' - ^ * i^A?. ' ■ • • W . * -^ Jl’ *'C ' f*''*'^ ' Vi .1 ' j LITERATURE IN THE DESERT There are a Number of Literates Even Among the Bedawi ’bi I CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN MOSLEM LANDS A STUDY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN PRESS IN ALL MOHAMMEDAN COUNTRIES Prepared by A JOINT COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE AND COUNSEL OF THE FOREIGN MISSIONS CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE COM¬ MITTEE ON SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS SURVEYS V V L ■■ r. f ? ' - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN MOSLEM LANDS. I PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE The Survey of Christian Literature for Moslems 'which is presented in this volume was made under the auspices of a special committee appointed jointly by the Committee of Refer¬ ence and Counsel of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, which represents the foreign missionary agencies of North America, and the Committee on Social and Religious Surveys, which generously provided the funds required for making the survey. The chairman of this special committee was the Rev. Cornelius H. Patton, D.D., and its secretaries were the Rev. Charles R. Watson, D.D., and the Rev. Frank W. Bible. While the proposal originated in America and the commit¬ tee appointed was mainly American, it was recognised from the very outset that the investigation was bound to be international in scope and outlook. Accordingly, a portion of the Survey was entrusted to the Committee on Christian Literature in the Mission Field of the Conference of Missionary Societies in Great Britain and Ireland; consultative members were ap¬ pointed representing Great Britain and the Continent; and all field committees were requested to secure, in their membership, an adequate representation of the different national groups working in their fields. The Moslem world, stretching from Morocco on the West to the Philippine Islands on the East, was divided for the pur¬ poses of the Survey into twelve areas, a field committee being appointed for each of these areas. The chairmen of these several field committees constituted the General Field Commit¬ tee of which the Rev. F. W. McCallum, D.D. became chairman. The lines on which the Survey was to be made were first carefully outlined by the Committee in America in the light of [v] PREFACE the rich experience already gained from similar surveys in Japan, in China and, particularly, in India. For reasons that need not be restated it was determined that the Survey should not include Bible distribution nor attempt to deal with existing or needed translations of the Bible. The schedules, when completed, were sent to the General Field Committee for criti¬ cism and revision. This Committee met at Cairo, December 13-19, 1921, for this purpose and to determine finally the lines and limits of the Survey and to lay plans for carrying it for¬ ward to execution. During the next ten months the field com¬ mittees were occupied with investigations relating to their respective fields. The information they needed was secured from a long list of correspondents, including selected mis¬ sionaries, specialists in literary work, responsible heads of mission boards. Government officials and nationals of the lands surveyed. At the same time, the valuable results of earlier investigations, the suggestions of existing missionary policies, and the statements of printed bibliographies were carefully sought out and collated. The aim of each committee was to make, so far as possible, for each area an entirely com¬ plete and self-contained report, so that whatever might be the ultimate outcome in respect to the comprehensive report for the whole Moslem world, each geographical area might be cer¬ tain to obtain so clear a view of its needs and opportunities that it would receive an impetus to practical activity. As rapidly as the special area surveys were completed, copies were sent to each other area, and particularly to the chairman of the General Field Committee, on whom, aided by his competent and devoted secretary. Miss C. E. Padwick, of London and Cairo — to whose skilful pen much of the content and phraseology of this compelling report is due — fell the responsibility of drafting a report that would not only cover the whole Moslem world, but would also include the vital elements of each regional survey and would make fullest use of each region's outlook. The General Field Committee met for the last time at Cairo, November 7-14, 1922, to review and revise the report which had been prepared. The Survey presented in this vol- [vi] PREFACE ume marks the final result of this extended process of investi¬ gation, study, criticism and construction. At every stage of the process, from the early gathering of data to the editorial touches preceding the publication, Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer has been of invaluable assistance, but, all around the wide circle of this collaboration, the task has been a labour of love. In the preparation of this Survey the Committee was not unmindful of the great and supremely important work of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible Society and similar agencies. Their task, however, was to provide the Scripture in the language of the Moslem world. All other literature was beyond their scope. There is a complete Bible translation, and careful revisions exist for every important language area in the world of Islam. The fact that these versions have a large and ever increasing circulation empha¬ sizes the need for Christian literature to interpret the Bible and apply its teachings to everyday life. The Survey claims no higher authority than that which legitimately belongs to the thoroughness of its investigation, the soundness of its methods of procedure and the reasonable¬ ness of its conclusions and its recommendations. The Com¬ mittee believes that it deserves a careful reading on the part of the religious public and particularly of every leader or worker concerned with the great task of Christian evangelisation in the fields investigated. The Committee submits this Survey to the mission boards and societies which are engaged in the work for Moslems and to that larger public which is interested in the proper inter¬ pretation of Christianity to those under Moslem influence, believing that it will make possible a more intelligent, far¬ sighted, well-planned programme of advance during the next decade. The important place of Christian literature in carry¬ ing the Gospel to the Moslem World cannot be overstated. If Christians and Moslems are ever to reach an understanding, Christianity in its saving truth and in its expressions of wholesome life, must be placed before these ‘‘men of the book’^ in such a way as to win the assent of their minds and hearts. Good literature is the key to both. If the statements of this [vii] PREFACE Survey, so extensively developed by the occupation of a large missionary circle, receive large publicity both at the home base and abroad, it may confidently be expected that new plans will be undertaken and substantial progress made in ushering in a new day of power for missions to Moslems. A united and aggressive pressing of this literary approach to our Moslem brethren in every part of the world seems clearly to be one of the next steps in missionary statesmanship. Cornelius H. Patton, Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Survey of Christian Literature for Moslems [viii] CONTENTS PAGE Preface V CHAPTER I The Moslem Press . 17 II The Christian Press in the Moslem World . 32 III Christian Literature in Arabic . 48 IV Christian Literature for Turanian and Bal¬ kan Moslems . 79 V Christian Literature for Persian-Reading Mos¬ lems . 99 VI Christian Literature for Indian Moslems . . iii VII Christian Literature in Malaysia and the Philippines . 134 VIII Christian Literature for Moslems in China . 146 IX Christian Literature for Moslems in African Languages . 153 X XI XII XIII XIV XV Christian Literature for Moslems in European Languages . Authorship . Publication . . Circulation 1. . Newspaper Evangelism . , .. . r, . . The Next Steps . . • . . 173 186 211 231 257 269 Appendices (a) personnel of survey organization . . . 281 (b) a new census of the MOSLEM WORLD . . 284 , . 297 [ix] Index 1 ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND CHARTS ILLUSTRATIONS LITERATURE IN THE DESERT . FrOfltispiece PAGE TITLE PAGE OF BILINGUAL MOSLEM TRACT PUBLISHED IN CHINA . 29 THE GENERAL FIELD COMMITTEE IN CHARGE OF THE SURVEY IN CONFERENCE AT CAIRO . 34 THE NILE MISSION PRESS, CAIRO . 50 FEMINISM IN THE SUDAN . 58 PASTOR, POET AND SCHOLAR . II4 IN THE booksellers’ BAZAAR . 122 A MALAY TYPESETTER USING LINOTYPE MACHINE, SINGA¬ PORE . 138 YOUNG EGYPTIAN WOMANHOOD OF TODAY . 1 78 METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE AT SINGAPORE .... 214 INDUSTRIAL PRINTING PRESS OF THE RHENISH MISSION AT LAGOEBOTI, SUMATRA . 214 A CO-EDUCATIONAL MOSLEM SCHOOL AT PADANG, SUMATRA . 226 SCHOOL OF THE SALATIGA FAITH MISSION, BLORA, JAVA . . 258 women’s BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL, BUITENZORG, JAVA . . 258 MAPS AND CHARTS CHART OF LITERACY IN EGYPT ACCORDING TO SEX .... 52 CHART OF LITERACY IN EGYPT ACCORDING TO RELIGION . . 53 MOSLEM POPULATION IN ASIATIC TURKEY . 8l MOSLEMS IN RUSSIA . 87 MOSLEMS OF CHINESE TURKESTAN . 9 1 MOSLEMS IN BALKAN STATES . 97 . [xi] MAPS AND CHARTS PAGE INDIAN EMPIRE . II3 MALAYSIA . 137 MOSLEMS IN CHINA . 147 LINGUISTIC MAP OF ALGERIA . . . . . 163 THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD . 282 LINGUISTIC DISTRIBUTION OF MOSLEMS . 288 POLITICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MOSLEMS . 289 [xii] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN MOSLEM LANDS The modern world is becoming ‘'eye-minded, ” it understands only what it sees in black and white. Mil¬ lions are learning to read in all lands and millions find nothing worth reading. Christian literature brings its message primarily indeed to the individual, but because the printed page may present the same message at the same time to thousands of readers, it becomes a power¬ ful social and unifying influence. William H. P. Faunce, President of Brown University, in Social Aspects of Foreign Missions, CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN MOSLEM LANDS Chapter I THE MOSLEM PRESS The ink of the scholar is more sacred titan the blood of the martyr. — Mohammed. ^‘Islam” has become a word of the newspapers. Because of its political bearings the journalists play with it; and strange indeed is the play they make. We are sure that there are more things in the Moslem world than are dreamed of in newspaper philosophy, but who will show us any light? The present Survey, restricted though it is to questions bearing on literature, has for those who cannot aspire to be specialists this one claim to attention, that it is the work of men who, whether they write from China or Morocco, are in daily contact with the life of Islam. These men have set themselves, each in his own corner of the Moslem world, to observe its strange interplay of spiritual, social and political forces at work upon mankind. The writers do not claim in¬ fallibility but they are careful and modest and speak for what they see. If, in turning over their typewritten sheets from Turkey and Algeria, from Egypt and Arabia, from Syria, Persia, India, Malaysia or China, we find indications of com¬ mon thought and common movement in all of these widely separated areas, we are left with an assurance, all the stronger because undesigned, of a common life pulsing in that un¬ wieldy, incoherent entity that we so glibly call “the Moslem world.” [17] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM It is forced in upon us that this phrase, “the Moslem world,” is more than a haphazard expression invented by mis¬ sionaries to represent a large section of the non-Christian world professing one faith. We are made to see that its meaning includes more than geographical areas and sections of census reports. It stands, as Professor C. H. Becker pointed out in the first issue of Der Islam, for “a unity of religious conception, a unity of political theory and of ideals of civilisation as well as of religion.” “It is Islam,” says Snouck Hurgronje, speaking of Mecca, “which brings together and amalgamates all the heterogeneous constituents of Meccan society. On the other hand, this society itself welds into a chaotic whole the pre¬ judices and superstitions of all countries.” This Moslem world, with a total population estimated at no less than two hundred millions, faces Christendom, then, as a unity, a great unwieldy unity but a unity whose self-consciousness is growing rapidly. “Constituted already,” says Professor A. Le Chatelier “by the uniformity of its history and its in¬ stitutions, this (Moslem) civilisation has not had as yet the character of a social structure, on account of the separation of its component parts. But the shortening of distance, the rapidity of communications and the multiplicity of contacts which are being established between peoples, give it more and more a place in the life of humanity. Already the press formulates the common thought between the Moslems of Min¬ danao and those of Adamawa, between the Chinese Ahong and the Almamy Peul of Futa,” The reports of this Survey of Moslem Literature, made independently by groups of observers at so many different points in the world of Islam, only serve to emphasise the common life of that world. But they also give unconscious testimony to another unity. If, as we turn the thin type-written pages sent in from the fields, we find our brothers and sisters, disciples of Christ far-scattered among the nations, writing with unconscious unison as to the will of God for the next undertakings of His Church, what shall we think? Do these pages of type- [i8] THE MOSLEM PRESS script reveal the leadership of the Spirit of Jesus, the guide of the pilgrim Church? We turn, with curiosity half tinged with reverence, to study the bundle of papers and state faithfully what we see: /. spread o f Literacy One common fact at once emerges: The Moslem world is learning to read. The reports all tell the same tale : ARABIA Arabia herself, unstirred for centuries by movements from without, has caught the fever. “Mecca and Medina have a number of bookshops supplied from Cairo, Damascus and Constantinople.” ^ But we should expect bookishness in cathedral cities. It is more striking to hear of “post-war desire for education and crowded schools everywhere.” “Ability to read increasingly coveted.” “The Ikhwan (“Brotherhood”) movement is increasing literacy in Najd.” “In all the large towns schools are crowded that used to be empty.” So the observations run, and if, as one writer re¬ marks, the sudden crowding of the schools may be in part explained by a government grant given for every pupil, the very provision of such a grant by any Arabian government is part of the wonder. ‘IRAQ Traq, so long a centre of letters, is turning at last to books again. “There is an increased desire for education everywhere. Baghdad has a mushroom growth of a dozen papers and magazines. The Baghdad mission bookshop in April, 1920, did business to Rs. 600, in April, 1922, to Rs. 16,000, of which fully half was with the native population.” ^Throughout this volume all quotations, unless accounted for by special references, are from the actual text of the reports sent in by the Field Committees of the Survey of Christian Literature for Moslems. (See list of field committees in Appendix A.) [19] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM SYRIA In Syria with her seats of hoary learning at Damascus and Aleppo, and in Palestine, the land that first made child¬ hood sacred for us all, the babies are now learning their spell¬ ing book. “There has never been a real government system of schools till the recent activities of the British Government in Palestine and a beginning on the part of the French in Syria. Illiteracy is vanishing rapidly for the rising genera¬ tion, as schools of some sort are open in every simplest village and almost overcrowd the larger towns and cities. Moslems share with the other people of Syria and Palestine in the quickened desire for the education of their children. Book¬ shops are doing more business than before the war.’^ TURKEY AND EGYPT Turkey in spite of the miseries and distractions of her unsettlement reports “a growing desire for education and reading,” and Egypt is in the throes of “intellectual revival with all its agitation, including agitation for compulsory edu¬ cation. New Egypt promises to enlarge its public school system. There is no doubt that illiteracy already is on the decrease. The British Government during the war period and since, has communicated its important announcements even in the villages, by printed proclamations and posted circulars.” MOROCCO, ALGERIA, AND TUNISIA These countries tell the same tale; the long-robed Berber of Kabylia is caught into the movement faster, perhaps, than the blue-gowned Egyptian fellah. He sees dazzling vistas of development, of dignity, before his son, and the first rung in the ladder is the French alphabet. He becomes an enthusiast of the reading book. When the President of the French Re¬ public visited Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, “several of the notabilities of Algeria in their speeches of welcome advocated that French education be made obligatory for the natives.” This year (1922) the Financial Delegations have made pro- [20] THE MOSLEM PRESS vision, extending over fifteen years, for the building of looo new schools for the natives. The Governor General of Algeria himself expounds the French policy: — “Since France has established herself in Algeria she has been constantly pre¬ occupied with the development of the intellectual culture of the natives, because she considers that the best way of mak¬ ing herself understood by her Moslem subjects of North Africa is, before everything else, to teach them our language and thus to initiate them the more easily into our civilisa¬ tion.” ^ But what a dizzy leap across the centuries for these latest pupils in the schools of France ! INDIA In India the Moslem world is not untouched by the new spirit. One mission high school, typical of many, reports that whereas thirty years ago not more than three per cent of the pupils would be Moslems, the enrolments of to-day show four or five times that number. The Report on the Progress of Education in India, igi2-iy says that during those years the increase among Mohammedan pupils has been iy.6% as against 15.8% of all creeds, this more rapid increase bringing the present percentage of pupils from the Moslem community almost to the level of the average percentage from com¬ munities of the other faiths of India. MALAYSIA In Malaysia, often left out of count, there is a steady de¬ crease of illiteracy. “The British and Dutch Governments by their large number of vernacular schools for Moslems have created a demand for reading matter. The villages are all full of young people who can read.” So runs the chorus of testimony, and a table showing the percentage of illiteracy may be true and yet most misleading. For the significance of the matter lies not in the point now reached hut in the sudden curve of increase after static centuries. ’ Proces-Verbaux des Delegations Financieres d’Algerie, 1921. [21] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM 11. The Old Moslem Literature Before every urchin who learns to read in a Moslem school lie two worlds, both to be entered by the magic of books, an old world and a new. Between the two is a great gulf fixed, and in passing from the one to the other a man may easily be lost in that abyss. Much of the turmoil and mental discomfort in the Moslem world to-day is the result of efforts to inherit both worlds and to accept claims that cannot be reconciled in one human brain. On the one hand is all the classic literature of the Islamic centuries. “We see in this literature the intellectual labour and mental acumen of the Arabic-writing nations, in The¬ ology, Law, Jurisprudence, Grammar and other Islamic sci¬ ences.” “The national and racial literature,” says our Arabian report, “is confined almost entirely to the Koran, commentaries, traditions, divans.’' Through this weighty liter¬ ature of mediaeval scholarship the boy who goes far enough with his schooling is guided into the world of the schoolmen, a world complete within its own “universe of discourse,” and, within its own limits, a tolerant and international hospice for the scholars who talk its uniform language; a world which is built as a decorated shrine for the Koran, adorned with interwoven arabesques of thought and supported on pillars of law and tradition. To the visitor from realms of modern thought there is fascination in the quaint interweavings of its tracery. He looks about him with the pleasure of an artist or an antiquary. But the man who is no visitor but has his home in that world cannot afford tolerance. If it could be breathed into his consciousness that the sacred Koran is in one jot of it untrustworthy, or unfit to be the heaven-sent centre of so great and wonderful a literary fane, that impious breath would shatter the fabric of his world of thought and leave him crumbling ruins. He knows this instinctively, and the attitude of the old orthodox Islam has, of necessity, been one of steady hostility to outside faiths. “A Moslem knowing his religious literature, is generally [22] THE MOSLEM PRESS decidedly opposed to Christianity,” says the North African report, and proceeds to mention, as does also the report from Syria, one of the defensive works against that “great in¬ truder,” Christianity. Such a work {Ishdr-ul-Haqq) , pub¬ lished originally in Delhi, current, our reports tell us, in Algeria which buys it from a Cairo press, and in Syria, where they say that it comes from Stamboul, is in itself a witness to the homogeneity of that old world of Moslem thought. “The menace of such books,” says the Syrian report, “is negligible so far as the conversion of non-Moslems to Islam is con¬ cerned ; but they do steel Moslem young men against Christian teachings.” “We must never forget,” says the Egyptian re¬ port, “that the Moslem press is increasingly active, in spite of the censorship, the increased cost of production and the politi¬ cal unrest, in its output of distinctively anti-Christian litera¬ ture.” At the same time it must be remembered that the liter¬ ature of Sufism does not present the same hostility. So the old world lives on behind its defences, a world fully entered only by the scholastic few, but serving none the less to make a background, or rather an atmosphere, in which the lives of unlettered masses are still passed. III. T he New Moslem Literature But of the Moslem youth who learn the art of reading, only a few will make that world of scholastic lore their own. What then do the rest read? From almost every area re¬ porting, an answer comes unhesitating, — they read the news¬ paper. In great cities of high renown as centres of Islamic life, the shrill call of the newspaper boy is as much a part of daily life as that sonorous cry from the minaret above. And with the newspaper and the whole new realm of journalistic literature and cheap translations, ideas come in like a flood which have no place in the old Islamic scheme of the universe. It is as though the Moslem world, in learning to read, were gaining a new sense of touch wherewith to make the most surprising contacts. Let the information in the reports speak for itself : [23] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM EGYPT Egypt comes first, for she was the earliest centre of the new literature within the Moslem world. “The modern Arabic literature dates from the French expedition to Egypt in 1797. Mohammed Ali secured a translation of modern books into Arabic, inaugurating journalism by the publication in 1828 oi A I WaqdVa al Masriya,” which has never since ceased pub¬ lication. To-day from 217 printing presses, large and small, Egypt pours out a voluminous literature, more journalistic than creative or studious, and including much of what Lord Cromer called “vague declamation.” Yet, besides her seventy- seven newspapers, an undoubted force in her national life, Cairo sees every year new books of scientific interest, chiefly in translation from European works, Arabic poetry, novels (gen¬ erally semi-religious or erotic) and some forms of history. And this prolific literature has developments of its own in form as well as in content. “It has freed itself largely from the bombastic and affected style, and adopted western words, arrangements of subjects, illustrations and indexes.” SYRIA Syria too has her modern journalism and a serious literary movement. “There is an increasing historical, literary and scientific literature. This Moslem literature is not all hostile to Christianity, but it adds to the intellectual pride of the Moslem, MOROCCO, ALGERIA AND TUNISIA While largely dependent on Cairo for their supply of printed books, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia have between them about thirty Moslem newspapers in circulation. “One in each of the North African countries is a governmental organ. Some are bi-lingual, Arabic and French or Arabic and Italian. The present French-Moslem newspaper press of Algeria professes liberalism, sincere or fallacious, calling itself republican and socialist, but counting it impossible and [24] THE MOSLEM PRESS almost shocking to give the rights of man to woman.” Not very daring perhaps in Western eyes, but startling enough to give grave anxiety, we are told, to the “Old Turbans,” who shake their bearded heads at the “half -Europeanised” younger generation. ARABIA The thin line of the railway embankment in Arabia (too thin, it is true, and frequently liable to wash-outs because the embankment was built no wider than the sleepers) is not the only modern penetration. Electric light burns over the tomb of the Prophet, and the newspaper has arrived. Al Qibla, published weekly in Mecca itself, is read also in the south of the peninsula as far as Aden, while “newspapers from Egypt and from Syria are influential.” The spirit of questioning is abroad. The readers “are enquiring about the foundations of Islam” and even in some cases “considering the claims of Christianity.” 'IRAQ “ ‘Iraq has several Arabic newspapers of its own, and Eng¬ lish also is increasingly used. Technical books on such sub¬ jects as irrigation and engineering are in demand. The Arabs in Bahgdad buy no current novels, but many of classical novels such as those of Dickens (Pickwick on the Tigris!). In the Gulf ports, however, cheap translations of detective stories form the popular reading. During two years of life the British Government bookshop has supplied eighteen sets of the Encyclopaedia Britannica to Arab customers.” TURKEY The ubiquitous newspaper boy shouts in Constantinople too. “Daily papers and other periodicals are widely read. In general the whole output of the press is marked by a low moral tone. There has been a glorification of false ideals such as revenge, and novels, which are read very widely, are mostly of an ‘off-colour’ type. In the cities young women are the chief reading public and for Moslem women the chief [25] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM form of literature is the novel.’^ Yet, amid much that is depressing, this new literature has provided “a vehicle of communication to the minds of the people, and new interpre¬ tations have been given to such words as ‘Nation’ and “Father- land’ which show the possibility of taking an old word and giving it a new meaning charged with a new emotional impulse.” RUSSIA Before the war the Moslems of Russia were bringing intellectual and moral stimulus to their faith ^ and were pro¬ ducing a considerable rationalised Moslem literature in Tatar. It is hard now to obtain particulars of the Moslem literary activity of centres like Kazan, the Crimea and Baku, which were rapidly drawing to themselves the outworn prestige of Samarkand and Bokhara. PERSIA In Persia, in 1909, an article in a Tabriz paper on the emancipation of women drew an angry mob round the author’s house, threatening him with crucifixion, from which fate he was rescued by the authorities who clapped him into prison by way of saving his life.^ To-day the busy journalism of Persia includes at least one women’s journal, edited by a Per¬ sian woman, and a large output of patriotic literature with an anti-Sufi tendency, since Sufism cannot subserve the eager claims of modern nationalism. INDIA Modern Moslem literature is in India a political force to be reckoned with, — a self-conscious and organised force. “Newspapers abound. For the last ten years a distinct type of political literature has been flooding the country. The Italian war with Tripoli was the chief occasion for bringing it on. Politics are given to the public in the form of poetry, ’ Ismail Bey Gasprinsky was a leading spirit at the Mecca International Conference for the Reform of Islam. * Womens Work, October i, 1910, [26] THE MOSLEM PRESS drama and fiction, and always the politics of Islam/’ Political and religious antagonism merge as throughout the story of Islam they have ever merged. “The publications of the Khilafat Delegation and the Central Khilafat Committee of Bombay, both in English and Urdu, very definitely aim at bringing Christianity into contempt. Many of the rational¬ istic writers of Europe have been translated by Moslem scholars. Moulvi ‘Abd ul Halim Sharar writes his novels from Lucknow. These books find their way throughout the whole of India. Most of his works are antagonistic to Christianity.” In some directions the Moslem press has done good service to India. “Many standard works of European writers have been translated by Moslems with a view to improving and enriching their own national culture.” Yet on the other hand, great circulation has been given to undesirable erotic fiction “and the none too clean imagination makes the most of all such books and poems.” MALAYSIA Malaysia also has a large and increasing Moslem jour¬ nalism. Dutch official figures give a total of ninety-nine peri¬ odicals in non-European languages in their East Indian empire. “Four words,” we are told “which a few years ago were totally unknown in the vocabulary of the people now appear in common conversation, namely. Democracy, Com¬ munism, Bolshevism, Labour Strikes.” The British and Dutch Governments have created a demand for reading mat¬ ter, and the Dutch have established thousands of loan libraries in connexion with government schools. Erotic poems and legendary folk stories, dating back to the high civilisation of Java in her pre-Islamic days, are favourite reading. The leading Moslem religious works are translated from Arabic. In Java native writers are meeting the demand for more popular literature by “putting out continued stories which they issue in a great number of small parts. These stories are of a low ethical standard.” [27] d CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM CHINA China reports ‘‘a vigorous indigenous Moslem literature circulated by Moslem publishing agencies.” Publications of societies like the Chinese Young Men’s Moslem Association issued in Shanghai find their way into the remote province of Turkestan. IV. The Old and the New From the time of the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, the Sultan was defended by a body-guard whose equip¬ ment was in all respects, down to the silver halbert, a faithful copy of the splendid uniform of the Byzantine Varangian Guard, part of the spoils of conquest. Only in the middle of the 19th century did Sultan Abdul ‘Aziz learn from European courts of a change of fashion in imperial body-guards, and alter his own to match. The defenders of the faith of Islam are awakening to a similar situation. The old equipment of the schoolmen, elabo¬ rate and magnificent in its way, is found to be powerless against the newspaper and the science primer. Clear-seeing minds perceive that the modern press may be an influence more speedily and more magically unifying than even the Mecca pilgrimage, and they covet its power. So Islam is required by her defenders to doff her mediaeval panoply. There is a creaking and a groaning, a lamentable protest from the orthodox, and the new Islam steps forth, — so new that she seems to have lost her identity. She seems to have lost it, and yet, under the complete change of trappings may be hidden an identical spiritual attitude to God and man. The reports from Syria and Egypt say that “religious literature includes new representations of the old Islam, at¬ tempts to reconcile Islam and science, and especially books of glorification of the past history of Islam.” The work of Mohammed ‘Abdu, the late very liberal Grand Mufti of [28] THE MOSLEM PRESS 0 TITLE PAGE OF BIUNGUAL MOSLEM TRACT PUBLISHED IN CHINA [29J CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Egypt, ^ is reported as having influence in many parts of the Moslem world, but especially in Syria, where there is an out¬ put of serious historical and scientific books in which “the underlying theories are made to agree with Moslem teaching.” But, in the eyes of the orthodox, this is dangerous work, and the greatest of such efforts is frankly outside the ortho¬ dox fold, in the heretical sect of Ahmadiya Moslems. The relationship of the Ahmadiya movement, whether of the school of Qadian or of Lahore, with orthodox Islam is half pathetic. Islam is proud of the quick initiative, the savoir-faire, and the intellectual and missionary activity of the movement, as well as of the political value of the numbers which it adds to the Moslem community in India; and the movement clings to the dignity and prestige of Islam and to a strangely rational¬ ised and spiritualised Koran. The reports show the remarkable activity of this movement, which, besides a great and influential output in India, publishes in London an English paper. The Islamic Review, with a large circulation reaching to Beirut and Baghdad, and modified editions in Tamil and Urdu. The literature of the movement has appeared in places as far apart as Mascat and the Gold Coast and Colombo, while in Singapore a monthly Ahmadiya magazine has put in an appearance, “which will probably be read more by resident Tamils and Bengalis than by Malays.” “In the Punjab, Ahmadiya literature produced in Qadian and Lahore is very antagonistic. More than three hundred books have been written in answer to Christian writers and most of these contain destructive criticism and very caustic remarks about Christianity. The Ahmadiya publications coming from England, in English, as well as those of the same sort pub¬ lished in India, play no small part in producing anti-Christian sentiment.” This movement is only one, though it is the most active and extensive, of many efforts to re-clothe Islam in garb acceptable to the twentieth century. The work of such writers as Isabel Eberhart, Magali Bosnard, Pierre Loti and Marma- duke Pickthall though not primarily apologetic, plays its part [30] ® See Cromer, Modern Egypt, Vol. II, pp. 179, 180. THE MOSLEM PRESS in displaying Islam to western eyes with the glow of a rich imagination cast over all that is most picturesque, most dig¬ nified and most appealing in Moslem life. So, as the Moslem boy steps out of the schoolroom a reader, a strange medley of voices may reach his consciousness through the printed page, — some new and some as old as the making of books, some of east and some of west and some of hybrid birth. But to those who have ever heard one Voice, it is intolerable that to these their brothers the press should speak with all the voices except the voice of Christ. C31] Chapter II THE CHRISTIAN PRESS IN THE MOSLEM WORLD The best way and most effectual to overcome and win the Turks would he if they shall perceive that thing which Christ taught and expressed in His life to shine in us. For truly it is not meet nor con¬ venient to declare ourselves Christian men by this token if we kill very many but rather if we sceue very many ... in my mind it were best before we should try with them in battle to attack them with epistles and some little books. — Erasmus (in 1530). /. Beginnings About the year 1095, a native of Piedmont, who had won repute as a scholar in Normandy and had left his studious cloister with deep regret for an English archbishopric, found himself rusticating in an Italian village, while he waited the tardy conclusion of business with the Pope. In the days of waiting the scholar found time for his pen again, and Anselm wrote his work Cur Deus Homo. Towards the end of the last century an Englishman in Tunis (Mr. B. Mitchell of the North Africa Mission) trans¬ lated Cur Deus Homo into Arabic to be printed at Beirut as a Christian apologetic for the Moslem world of his own day. The incident is suggestive. Into what other field of Christian apologetics would a man of the 19th century have sent forth as champion one of the earliest of the schoolmen? Such an action is a commentary on the amazing degree to which the intellectual presentation of Islam had remained static [32] THE CHRISTIAN PRESS through the centuries; but it is also a more moving commen¬ tary on lost opportunities. For time was, when the scholars of Christendom and of Islam, though separated by the clash of war, lived in the same intellectual realm. Discussion was not embarrassed by a dreadful groping after the meaning of terms. Men could get to work and argue with satisfaction, for they were still members of one intellectual commonwealth. The Church of the Middle Ages might have found her way to the spring of her Moslem brother’s convictions. But St. Francis had to spend himself in expostulation with Cardinal Ugolino, and Raymond Lull battered almost in vain at the apathy of official Christendom. That day of opportunity passed. Christian thought swept on with ever changing emphasis, each century — almost each generation — engrossed with some fresh aspect of truth. When at last, in the 19th century, Christian men began to consider their Moslem brothers, they had all the penalty to pay for neglect and separation. To reach their brother’s mind they must step across the centuries. It is significant that one of the works circulated to-day by the Nile Mission Press of Egypt, throughout Arabic-reading lands, is the Christian apology made by A1 Kindy at the Court of Damascus about the time of Alfred the Great. Books have perhaps played a larger part in the contact of Christianity with Islam than in its contact with any other faith. For the Christian man in Islamic lands found himself confronted by scholarship and a world of books impossible to ignore. He could not, like his brother among pagan tribes, give his mind at once to his people’s hymnbook and their easy catechism. For the long-robed scholars who filled his house with the odour of musk faced him with arguments backed with serried ranks of books. And the books could not be ignored since they not only taught another faith but they distorted and denied his own. For the vindication of the Christ he served, he was driven to write in defence of the life that was in him. “Controversy must be courteous and sympathetic,” says the present report from North Africa, “but we can no more avoid it than could St. Paul in dealing [33] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM with the Jews.’' Nor must we close our eyes to the contro¬ versies of our Lord in His dealings with the Jews. II. The C hristian Press and Islam Christian men, then, set to work to vindicate their Master before the scholars of Islam. In one sense their task is nearly done, in another it is all yet to do. THE ALMOST COMPLETED TASK The old Islamic thought is wonderfully close-knit and homogeneous. The scholar enters a republic of letters whose boundaries are wider than nationality. And he finds a sta¬ bility of structure that hardly changes with the centuries. For Christian apologists this means that the path of approach beaten out in one century and language may serve for quite another day and country. At the Mogul court of Jahangir when James I was on the English throne, Jerome Xavier, the Jesuit, wrote a tractate in Latin which was rendered into Persian to meet Moslem arguments against Christianity. At Shiraz in the reign of George III, Henry Martyn, ^‘the flower of evangelical chiv¬ alry,” wrote Persian tracts to meet the arguments of the doctors. At Shusha, in Georgia, two years before Victoria came to the throne, young Gustav Pfander, the Saxon, wrote a great work in German to be translated into Persian, Urdu and most of the chief languages of the Moslem East. None of these men saw his brother’s work, yet the likeness is amaz¬ ing, and reveals how settled are the outlines of “the Moslem controversy.” As to the main line of argument the Church has done her thinking. To do that over again in each isolated area would be waste of energy in a world of many demands. The lists of books sent in, in connexion with the present survey, bring all this home with clearness. Let us take at random one common statement in Moslem arguments against Christianity : [34] f i C.2 oj OJ O St gs ■*-> ai s- &l I O) O) -»-> «S5 fl iJj . C 11(0! aS O iQffl O - w,*-' _ w O ,• s i: > , a; " S it > > o oj 5^ 'w . ■p^ ■^Q bc'^ q; d tH 'X' • PP “i > C d C - t-H .35 m m C !- « OJ •Th ' — ' C— I ^ ~ CQ m . XI H o;”^ . li ^ d t .W ^ *1) x^ PP > C X §pp X) .-H ip >>o ^ '^dZ ■ cc^

-. (U ^ a3 ^.§1 ••5o O Xl PP cH g3 H +^'' ^ -G Dh 6 X >, 2 ^ be fa erj^ ■ rV'^' ■‘’- V. - 'i \. ■ ■■ •^^^ T^ ■<' ■*>?-'• ’'a -T^ • >-i- *' ' ■■ 'k 5^ i ,71'*’ ' 53/17 IC< V i*^r ♦v-. ••i- ■■ -»•■• xX' L-. -^1 W- ‘X\ , •> '"*' <■ ^ *• _ • C." - -J'.' •■“ r -■-.r'-. \ • .•■'‘■^••^JisaSHir y* *^, X v ■ u • >-•, « - ^ _ ' -“ . ^ t - T ■ * •-ir* , . JJ.’ ’ •- •* " - . -■ f : ■;^V ■-* ..Jfl >r » ~'t. * o ^• . - — ' 'f . ■♦ i -'/v 1 - '' <•-, .- A - _ -, . 'a I*- i-'- . ; / ;. fc^HH * _. .% '-.’i 'M^ L &• M *■ . -x ■■ ■ . J . ,.,' “ft rt “’-i n/ T ’*«>■ THE CHRISTIAN PRESS ^'The Christian scriptures now in circulation are not those to which Mohammed bore testimony hut have been corrupted.’' Turning to the lists sent in we find not only many replies in the course of larger works, but also the following special pamphlets : Title Author Reason in respect of corrup¬ tion and supersession of the Bible . Abdullah Athim Guidance for the Doubtful E. M. Wherry Refutation of the Corrup¬ tion . Anon The Bible or the Quran?... G. L. Thakur Das What happened before the Hijra . W. H. T. Gairdner Integrity of the Gospel . G. H. Rouse Moslems invited to read the Bible . . . W. Muir Proof of the Futility of Fakhr the' Ignorant . W. St. Clair Tisdall Persian. *Abdu'l Masih's Apology... W. St. Clair Tisdall Persian. This is an example taken at random. But a comparative study of the lists sent in shows a volume of existing work meeting all the main lines of Moslem argument, but published some in one language and some in another. While certain famous works like Mizdn al Haqq have been many times translated, it is yet clear that scattered workers have not, as they should, found ready to their hand the results of their comrades’ toil. With so much done, a Christian man desir¬ ing to-day to deal with the same arguments in Tatar, Swahili, Kanarese, Javanese or any Moslem vernacular, should find the outlines of his work prepared for him. One result of the present survey should be the more careful husbanding of work already done in each country. Almost every area reporting suggests an extension of the plan by which, in India, important books are often printed in small English editions and so made available for translation into any vernacular. The present reports suggest that basic manu¬ scripts in some European language, of all the principal works [35] Language Urdu U it it ^English, Arabic, ^Turkish. ’ English, Urdu, - Tamil, Telugu, _ Chinese. ’ English, Urdu, ^ Arabic, Cape Dutch, Persian. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM produced in all Moslem lands, should be available, through some central agency, for use by missionaries throughout the whole Moslem world. The Christian Literature Society, Madras, does this for the works of Canon Sell and others in India. THE TASK YET BEFORE US But with all their insistence on a better conservation of work done, the reports suggest that, with regard to some aspects of the great controversy, the Church’s thinking is by no means finished. The lines of argument may be clear, but man is more than intellect. It is true that Pfander’s public controversies brought some notable disciples to the feet of Christ; but when the whole is known, how much of this happy result will be found owing the surefooted logic of that master of argument, and how much to the affection that beamed from his expansive blue-eyed countenance? For Pfander, looking over his enormous Bible at the hostile faces, showed himself such a comfortable embodiment of unmoved good-nature that, as Sir Herbert Edwardes said, ‘‘it was diffi¬ cult for anyone to be angry with him for more than a passing moment.” The Survey reports show great tenderness of conscience on this subject, and a divine discontent, not with the argu¬ ments for Christianity but with their presentation. There is a constant deprecation of the controversial spirit, and an insistence that the Christian should set out to impart the positive truths by which he lives, only turning aside to con¬ troversy when his path of exposition is barred by specific denial. Dr. Kremer of Malaysia says, “our method must be by thesis, not antithesis.” Christian apologetic, though ready to meet Moslem difficulties and misconceptions, cannot allow its direction to be chosen for it, and its matter to be limited by Moslem controversialists. It cannot turn only within the narrow circle of scholastic methods. It must be the presenta¬ tion of life, the life that is in Christ Jesus, and even in its method of presentation it must draw the Moslem mind into [36] THE CHRISTIAN PRESS a larger place. That is part of its liberating task. Let the reports speak : “Moslem difficulties should be met rather than answered.” {Egypt.) “The spirit should be courteous and sympathetic, contro¬ versy steeped in love.” (Arabia.) “If controversy is unavoidable it must be conducted in the spirit of love.” (China.) “It must be conciliatory and sympathetic but cannot be avoided.” (North Africa.) “In the past the sympathetic approach has been too little cultivated. Certain valuable contributions to apologetic lit¬ erature are occasionally marred by language calculated to alienate the Moslem reader. Some of the earlier tracts should be carefully revised from the point of view of subject matter and manner of approach. Statements likely to offend unneces¬ sarily should be expunged” (India). “In some cases a few books and tracts might better be declared out of print, and a larger number be carefully re¬ written, when a new edition is issued” (Egypt). These are not the utterances of lovers of controversy, con¬ tent to win arguments and lose men. With such a spirit abroad we may look for all the ingenuity of love in finding ways by which truth may reach a brother’s life. The story- dialogue form, as in What happened before the Hijra, appears in a good deal of recent work. This form, with all its attrac¬ tiveness and help for flagging interest and attention, is a diffi¬ cult one to handle. For the writer must present in the dia¬ logue his own case and his opponent’s too; and any slightest tinge of unfairness or tendency to stress the less reputable aspects of Moslem thought may prove more irritating and alienating than the most slashing blows of argument. “Chris¬ tian literature” (says the Arabian report) “should recognise and deal with the best explanations of objectionable ideas and customs.” For in the words of a well-known sentence by Dr. D. B. Macdonald, “the paradox of a missionary’s life [37] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM is that he must have a liking for his people and their queerest little ways, even while he is trying to change them.” To say that the particular literary form just mentioned is difficult is not to decrease its value. Difficulty is a neces¬ sary element in this work. Nothing can make easy the task of intellectual sympathy with the old world in which the heart of Islam still beats. The report from the North African area in particular calls for Christian scholars, adventurous enough to learn not only the speech of another race, but the ways of thought that belong to another age, — and that not as a tour- de-force but as an act of brotherliness. “The doctors of Islam,” says the report, “have theological conceptions and a scholastic knowledge which puts them in somewhat the same position as were those schooled in Greek philosophy in the first ages of the Christian Church. The apologists of early Christian centuries may have laid too much stress on the value of Greek philosophy as a propaedeutic, but they would have made a greater mistake if they had rejected all as incompatible with the Gospel.” The old world of Islam to-day no less than ever awaits the interpreters of Christ. SUMMARY 1. The literature of approach and Christian apologetics to Moslems hitherto produced in all countries should be classi¬ fied and made available in French or English through some central agency. No such collection of literature will be in any sense com¬ plete unless the important apologetic work for Moslems under¬ taken at various times by the Oriental and Roman Churches be included.^ 2. The main outlines of the arguments with which the Church meets the hostile statements of the old Islam are thought out. The worker’s thought to-day will be largely given to the question of courteous, sympathetic, idiomatic, varied, and scrupulously fair presentation. ^ Al Mashriq, the organ of the Jesuit University of Beirut, is publishing serially an important list of Christian manuscripts found in the East, in historical order. [38] THE CHRISTIAN PRESS 3. To these general results drawn from the whole sur¬ vey may be added as corollary a suggestion from the Arabian report : Not every missionary will become a master of the Moslem controversy. Many will spend their lives in the service of people, themselves ignorant of the controversy but none the less under the spell of Islamic thought. Probably the quickest way for the missionary to place himself beside these folk and understand their mental equipment will be to make the basis of his own study of Islam the very text-books on which they themselves are trained. “A volume should be prepared for missionaries,” says the Arabian report, “containing the courses of study usually covered by the boys in the ordinary Moslem school, with explanatory notes and references to books upon the subjects studied.” Ill. Christian Literature and the New World of Islam The survey has revealed a rapid increase of literacy and the opening to Moslems of a whole new world of foreign con¬ tacts. With a growing consciousness of the ideals of the outside world is growing up a new type of Moslem apology in which the ground of attack is ethical. All that is least Christian in western civilisation is held up to view as the fruit of Christianity. The character of our Lord is deliberately besmirched, and the character of Mohammed is as deliberately glorified and painted in colours that would have amazed the Arab world of the seventh century.^ There is a deliberate attempt to make Mohammed the ethical ideal for mankind, and this has involved the painting of a new Mohammed in colours drawn from a Christian paint-box. Further study of the survey reports reveals that the edu¬ cational developments of the present time in the Moslem world have wrought changes in the outlook or the reading capacity of three great and growing classes to whom truth may now come by way of a printed page : ^See Ecce Homo Arahicus, by Canon W. H. T. Gairdner. [39] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM THOSE EDUCATED ALONG WESTERN LINES “Unless Christian literature is used, western education will be absorbed by the Moslem world without the guiding and restraining force of religion” (Arabian Report). “The real leaders of thought must not be neglected, espe¬ cially the Eflfendi class (young modernised Egyptians) who, unless led aright, will be led astray by agnostic, infidel and immoral literature which is pouring into Egypt, in French as well as in Arabic translation. The student class are the originators, the imitators, and the fanatic devotees of new ideas and often of new and higher ideals, especially in social reform.” (Egyptian Report.) “The schools turn out every year from seven to ten thou¬ sand able to read French. This class is most exposed to the anti-religious influences in many educated French circles. The tendency is for the cultured native to look upon the Christian religion as of little importance in modern life. At the same time their education opens their minds to a better understand¬ ing of historical proofs, a better ability to compare Jesus and Mohammed, and a better understanding of moral arguments for Christianity.” (North African Report.) THE BARELY LITERATE In this class are those whose schooling just enables them to read, but not to enjoy the literature of either East or West. At present, not all, but the majority of women readers come under this heading. “It is especially necessary to prepare a large assortment of illustrated books for the nearly illiterate. There is a great and populous borderland between literacy and illiteracy. Those who can barely read and are anxious to read some¬ thing, but find nothing within their range of knowledge.” (Egyptian Report.) “There are a great number who have learned a little Arabic but not sufficient to be able to understand the literary style. Especially their vocabulary is very limited. For such, [40] THE CHRISTIAN PRESS good colloquial literature is preferred and would reach the end desired, namely, to get the message to their minds and its power to their hearts.” {North African Report.) “We should aim at providing literature for the people of the rural communities, — millions of uneducated village folk. The need is for narrative in simpler form than the current translations of the Gospels.” {Indian Report.) “We should aim chiefly at reaching the common people.” {Turkish Report.) “The greatest need is for literature to reach readers in the villages.” {Malaysian Report.) CHILDREN, BOYS AND GIRLS It is estimated that these number at least 80,000,000 in the Moslem world, while, thanks to the recent spread of schooling, the proportion of readers is higher among them than among adults. “Literature for Moslem women and children needs to be increased. There is need of books for the young people who make up a fifth or fourth of the population in numbers, and are an element of the greatest importance. The appetite for entertaining reading exists and should be made use of.” {Syrian Report.) “The classes of persons to be reached in the order of their importance are children, women, men.” {Turkish Report.) “The lads are learning to read now by the hundred thou¬ sand throughout the Moslem world, and the provision for their awakening powers as far as Christianity goes is nil. In England and America every stage from babyhood to adolescence is catered for; in the house of Islam, for minds as eager, nothing is prepared.” {North African Report.) THE SCOPE OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE It is not surprising that writers so conscious of many- sided human life as are the makers of the reports just quoted, should have a many-sided conception of what the literature produced in Christ’s name should be. [41] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM A glance at the books prepared by Christians for their Moslem brothers more than twenty years ago will show that the pioneers (and there were giants in those days) with the almost solitary exception of A.L.O.E. (Miss Tucker), the writer of many much-loved tales, were absorbed by the chal¬ lenge of the great Moslem controversy. This was necessary, but during the last twenty years the hope has grown up of a wider range for the service of Christian books in the Moslem world. To a great extent it is Christian periodical literature, always more mobile than a literature of books, that has made the first experiments with new lines of approach. Nur Afshan of Ludhiana may be cited, and many other magazines. For Egypt the two papers Beshair es Sdam (1900) and Orient and Occident (1904) ‘‘may be considered as dating the modern movement.” In North Africa at about the same time. Miss Trotter left the trodden ways and began the production of leaflets with a broad human appeal, enlisting the imagination and the eye. That work of the Algiers Mission Band, slen¬ der in output, has yet done pioneer service. “It was in the first decade of the century,” says their report, “that the need arose before us for literature fitted for the unlearned and ignorant men of the land. The controversial tracts we had in stock were suitable for the Moslem students of the towns; but these men of the markets could be reached (if we could get their ear) on the broad lines of sin and salvation. We tried the unfailing spell of ‘Once upon a time,’ and gathered up from among us in that first decade about twenty ‘Parable Tracts,’ edited in colloquial.” It would be hard to tell how much of inspiration other literature missionaries owe to that slender output of papers with their warm human interest, their use of the imagination and their touch of eastern beauty. From such beginnings a change has come over the outlook of the literature missionary. Twenty years ago, if asked what types of books were necessary for his work in the Moslem world, he would probably have mentioned works covering the Moslem controversy. Biblical narratives and ex- [42] THE CHRISTIAN PRESS planations, works on Christian doctrine, and the literature of devotion. The present survey shows that while all the areas report¬ ing want all these books as much as ever, not one report is now content with these alone. The change is one of addition without subtraction. Report after report emphasises the im¬ portance of Christian story literature. It is clear that the Church must pray for the inspiration of the “A.L.O.E.’s” of to-day, whether eastern or western. ‘‘We need literature for influencing native thought, in conjunction with the progress of education, in all that makes for individual, family, social and national well-being, — litera¬ ture on purity, hygiene, temperance, home life, social respon¬ sibility, and opportunities for service, as well as healthy recrea¬ tive and instructive literature.” {North African Report.) “We need a whole literature to make the Christian Church, struggling in a Moslem land, free to use her great heritage in the way of lives made glorious by Christ in all centuries and countries. There are treasuries of devotion and Chris¬ tian scholarship, and books which give the Christian attitude to nature and aesthetics and all human problems. This litera¬ ture, while not called apologetic -or addressed nominally to Moslems as such, may yet prove the strongest apology we make to the Moslem world for the Life that is in us. “We need a Christian literature for the young along such lines that it shall be possible for an Egyptian child (as it is not now), to enjoy successively not only Christian teaching in carefully graded sympathetic Bible lesson-books, but also nursery rhymes, songs, games, fairy tales, nature books, ad¬ venture books, historical tales, scientific information, poetry, novels, without finding himself in a mental and moral environ¬ ment hostile to Christ. All these purposes must be kept in view together. There is need for them all in the Moslem world to-day.” {Egyptian Report.) “the purpose of a CHRISTIAN LITERATURE CAN BE NOTH¬ ING LESS THAN TO BRING EVERY THOUGHT INTO CAPTIVITY TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST; HENCE NO DOMAIN OF HUMAN THOUGHT IS ALIEN TO IT.” [43] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM IV. T he Present Survey The survey on which this report is based was made by Field Committees in twelve areas covering the Moslem world from Russia to South America, and from Morocco to China. Details concerning so many nations and tongues are dazing, but in all this mass of material we find the same spirit of aspiration after a literature that shall reveal Christ more fully. In relation to the task of Christian literature the languages reporting fall into four classes, quite unknown to ethnologist or linguist but useful to the clearing of our thought : 1. In a few languages (notably Arabic and Urdu) Chris¬ tian literature for Moslems now almost covers the range of the older Moslem apologetic and is setting out to develop other lines of approach to the human spirit. 2. A few languages (e.g., Chinese and Tamil), have a fair range of general Christian literature, not specifically addressed to Moslems ® and are now setting out to provide the literature needed in special apologetic work for Moslems. 3. In the majority of languages used by Moslems, Chris¬ tian literature of any sort is appallingly scanty; but the reports sent in show a desire, while not neglecting the older form of apologetic, to make the literature full-orbed from the first, with a message for all sides of life. 4. Certain languages of undeveloped races may be classed together for our purpose. Either because they are spoken by very small groups (e.g., Shulla, Dinka and Nuer in the Western Sudan) or because they are being conquered by stronger neighbour tongues (e.g., some of the Berber lan¬ guages disappearing before French) no great Christian litera¬ ture will spring up in them. Work in such tongues will have to be small in output and rudimentary in idea, but it may be none the less important in the lives of small backward communities. * While both Chinese and Indian reports give evidence of desire to use such literature to the utmost, it is plain that its use is not without difficul¬ ties. “Some of the literature actually being sold to Moslems was prepared originally with Hindus in view. It would be a great gain to have this done into the style and language suitable for Moslems.” {Indian Report.) [44] THE CHRISTIAN PRESS 5. The languages of the West have taken on a new im¬ portance, because they have become to a great extent the languages of higher education for Moslem students, and also the languages of the newer Moslem propaganda. WHY A SPECIAL LITERATURE FOR MOSLEMS? The mention of Indian, Chinese and African languages may recall the fact of the great surveys lately made of Christian literature in India, China and Africa. Any enquiry about literature for Moslems in these lands must make a cross section through the area of those general literature surveys. And further, any special task of production for Moslems in these lands (or in any lands where general Christian literature is being produced) makes a kind of subsidiary focus of energy, where we all deeply desire that the energies of the Christian Church be economised, simplified, unified. Is it really neces¬ sary? Would it not suffice to survey literature for Moslems in wholly Moslem lands, and in countries where Moslems are only a minority could we not leave them to take their share of the general literature of the Christian Church? Is it really necessary to provide a Christian literature specifically for Moslems? The answer lies in the peculiar nature of the Moslem attitude toward Christianity. To the Moslem, Christ is ‘‘only a man.” To the Moslems, Christians are polytheists. Christ was not crucified. He did not die. The Moslem’s books give him no conception of the matchless beauty of Christ’s life and teaching. The Christ whom the Moslem knows is a cari¬ cature, an impossible child who talks in his cradle, a magician who makes clay into birds. The Moslem’s ideas about the miracle of the Incarnation and the Divine Sonship are “of the earth earthy.” The Moslem’s Christ and ours are two different persons. It is not what the Moslem does not know about Christ, but what he thinks he does know that puts him in a class by himself, a special problem demanding a special treatment in literature. On this vital question the reports are clear : [45] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM ‘‘In one sense the gospel message is the same for all, whether heathen, Moslems, Jews, Christians or unbelievers, but there are certain prejudices, opinions, customs, habits of life and of thought peculiar to each class; and especially is it true that a distinct Christian literature for Moslems is neces¬ sary because of the fundamental antagonism on the part of Islam against Christianity. The Moslem knows about Christ but definitely rejects Him and His claims. Literature pre¬ pared for Christians does not meet the peculiar mental and moral and spiritual attitude of the Moslem.” {Turkish Report.) “We believe that a distinctive literature prepared especially for Moslems is necessary for the following reasons : a. Because Islam has its own points of contact with the gospel, peculiar to it alone. b. Because the mental attitude of Moslems toward a large number of questions is peculiar to them alone, hence the whole preparation of a suitable literature requires a special knowl¬ edge of so-called “Moslem psychology.” c. Because special distorted views concerning the Bible and Christianity are held by Moslems, distortions which it would be folly to import into books for Hindus.” {Indian Report.) “Special literature is needed to deal with the peculiar diffi¬ culties of Moslems.” {Chinese Report.) “The impress of Islam in the course of the centuries on the mental make-up of Moslems has been such that it makes the preparation of literature in view of that mentality a neces¬ sity. This mind is so different from that of populations sub¬ jected for centuries to Christian influence that literature suited to the latter is rarely suitable for it. In the case of those acquainted with the doctrines and theology of Islam it is doubly necessary to have a literature specially prepared for them, of an apologetic nature. Even the native educated in the French schools has generally a peculiar background of life and thought; and literature in French for these, needs to take account of this background. Even those professing to be free-thinking have a peculiar outlook on most questions, [46] THE CHRISTIAN PRESS a strange mixture of the unprogressive past and ill-assimilated elements of modern life and thought.” {North African Report.) ‘‘Literature prepared for Christians is often almost unin¬ telligible to Moslems, because their religious idioms, outlook and ideals differ essentially from those of Oriental Christians. We need writers and translators who are themselves con¬ versant with Islam in language and thought. This does not mean that the literature must be distinctively against Islam; but writers must with sympathy remember the special diffi¬ culties of the Moslem mind, and the special temptations of Moslem life, meeting these needs, not by drawing attention to them but by drawing attention to that part of our riches in Christ which will best supply their poverty.” {Egyptian Report.) Dr. Wherry writes : “In a sense all literature for Moslems would best be written by Christian men or women who have been born and lived as Moslems, but that would eliminate all missionary authors. “On this principle I have usually written in English and have had a competent Christian convert from Islam translate for me, telling him clearly to grasp the thought and then express it in his own language and idiom, so that his transla¬ tion might seem to be his own writing; and then I have gone over the whole with him to see that he has translated correctly.” It is clear, then, that in each country with Moslem elements in the population, the Church must provide special literature for their service. And it is equally clear that though such literature may have national and linguistic and artistic traits in common with the other literature of the land, it should also have vital relationship with Christian literature for Moslems produced in all other countries. With such general relationships in view we now proceed to look more closely at to-day’s task in each of these varied lands. [47] Chapter III CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC W^isdom hath alighted upon three things — the brain of the Franks, the hand of the Chinese and the tongue of the Arabs. — Mohammed ad-Damiri. I. The Importance of the Arabic Language In the year 1809 Henry Martyn, in his uncomfortable bungalow at Cawnpore, received a letter of request that he would superintend a translation of the New Testament into Arabic. His mind caught fire. He forgot his surroundings where the grey aloes rattled in the hot wind, as he pictured the possibilities of the Arabic language, could it but speak the things of Christ. ‘‘It is the most important version of all,’' he wrote to a friend, “Arabic being understood not only in Syria, Tartary, Persia, India and many parts of China, but through a large part of Africa, and all along the south coast of the Mediterranean.” The present survey, made more than a century later, only underlines the words of that pioneer, as it shows the greatest language of Islam still an almost unmatched instrument for the spread of truth, and still waiting a serious, concentrated and united effort to make it speak of the truth as it is in Jesus. “The importance of Christian literature in Arabic cannot be overestimated. A tongue which the Arabs call ‘the language of the angels’ is among living languages one of the most deli¬ cate in structure, immense in vocabulary and of great possi¬ bility for the expression of every form of thought. It is the chief vehicle of the Moslem religion.” {Egypt Report.) [48] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC The Arabic character is used more widely than any other character. The Roman character has a greater output of literature; the Chinese character is used by more people, vastly more; but the Arabic character has spread with Islam over a much wider area. The whole of North Africa from the Red Sea to Rio de Oro has adopted the Arabic character. It has been carried through a large part of central Africa. At Oyo in the Yoruba Country “it is by no means an uncommon sight to see children carrying their ^slates’ of Arabic texts, which they learn to repeat parrot fashion.” On the other side of the continent in Yaoland, bordering on Lake Nyassa, “hundreds of Moslems have their own copies of the Koran, and can read them too; but understand next to nothing of what they read.” Arabic has penetrated the far eastern world also. It is taught in the Moslem schools of Indo-China. It is consider¬ ably spoken in the city of Bangkok. “In the Philippines and Malaysia the books used by the Moslems, who number nearly 40,000,000 souls, are mostly in Arabic script.” And though the script is used for local languages, we yet find that “the catalogue of books sold by a Moslem bookseller at Singapore contains 245 titles of Mohammedan books in the Arabic lan¬ guage.” {Malaysia Report.) Even in China with its own venerable culture, “written Arabic is in use by the Mollahs. A little Arabic and Persian literature filters into the North¬ west from Central Asia. It is carried by Moslem merchants and pilgrims returning from Mecca and certainly has some influence.” {China Report.) One missionary from Shensi reported seven mosque schools teaching Arabic, and four schools outside the mosques, where it was taught to girls under sixteen years of age. In India the great languages of the north have owed much in the past to the Arabic script and vocabulary, but there is also a current intercourse; “Translations of standard theo¬ logical and literary works from the original Persian or Arabic are of course to be found all over India, and the originals are being regularly imported by booksellers in such places as Bom¬ bay, Calcutta, Cawnpore and Lahore. Also travelling [49] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM preachers from Arabia, Persia and Syria are to be found all over India, and these undoubtedly bring books with them/’ And the great language reached out also to the north. Before the war, St. Petersburg and Kazan were both centres for the publication of the Arabic Koran in editions which claimed to surpass in correctness those of Cairo and Stamboul. Standard Arabic works for the Moslem world, as well as for European scholars, are printed at Leipzig and other Euro¬ pean centres. Even in the new world there are men who say their prayers and read their newspapers in Arabic. In South America where there are nearly 160,000 Moslems, we learn that in Brazil alone seven Arabic newspapers are published. Nor must the Arabic newspapers of the United States be forgotten, published at New York and Chicago. In view of all these facts, and the continued spread of the use of Arabic, not only in Africa but even in China, the im¬ portance of an Arabic literature that shall speak for Christ is self-evident. II. T he Scope of this C hapter. The survey has provided reports from Arabia, the very home of Islam and of Arabic, from Syria and Palestine, from Morocco, Algeria, Tunis and Tripoli, and from Egypt. Of all these Arabic countries Egypt so far takes precedence in the provision of Christian literature for Moslems, since political conditions set her free, before her sister lands, to print and circulate such literature. The earliest efforts were made from the island of Malta which gave a safe foothold for a mission press in the Near East. The Church Mission¬ ary Society began literary work there at the close of the Napoleonic War in 1815 and set up a printing press in 1827. The American Press was established in 1822. In 1834 it was moved to Syria, where it has had a great career as the Beirut American Press, known throughout the Near East. In lands directly under Turkish sway, however, the Chris- [50] THE NILE MISSION PRESS, CAIRO ■ -■. ^ ^ v ;• .i^;. 'v; ■ .' ^-4^= '■4 JJ.;-?;.' - ,;• aft?:*/ ;^'o:,4':,’:^4.Vb^-' ■ ••/■^ -• ’ *f y/*^.*^* = ' ■-■ r t ' ■' 'T.' V m •• ir fj rh i^.. : ■-1:?®v*4'-/- ■ ■■ '- '-• : 4-; . ; s =■' ; ■' r^K^'s .■ 4^*^iE4r'' ^ ■■ CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC tian press was muzzled, and both the American Press at Beirut, and that of the Jesuits in the same city (founded in 1847), carried on their work under most strangling restrictions. Egypt may be said to have had a twenty years start in pub¬ lication for Moslems and to have done much work that will serve the whole Arabic world. But with greater freedom in all Arabic lands, we may now look also for more intimate national developments in each country. The press in any Arabic land will have a double relation¬ ship, — it will be the servant of the people of one land in so far as it meets their distinctive needs, and it will be the servant of all Arabic lands in so far as it meets common needs. In this chapter we will first briefly survey the Christian literature in each Arabic land in relation to national and local needs. Then we will turn and consider these national under¬ takings as contributions to one great Arabic Christian litera¬ ture common to the whole Arabic-reading world. And as the subject is a very big one we confine ourselves in this chapter to the answering of two questions : 1. What have the Christian forces in each country already published^ 2. And what do they need to publish f Other equally vital questions, as for instance, “How will they produce, and how will they circulate such literature?” must be left for another chapter. Ill. Christian Literature in Egypt In Cairo, more than in any other city, the double relation¬ ship of literature is emphasised, for Cairo is the greatest distribution centre of the Moslem press. “The number of printing and publishing houses in Egypt is estimated at 217. They are largely concentrated in Cairo, in the Darb al Ahmar quarter. Some of these publishing concerns have agents in Java, Sumatra, the Sudan, West Africa, Zanzibar, Cape Colony and South America.” [51] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM It is clear that no one producing Arabic Christian litera¬ ture in Cairo can afford to be Egypt-centred. Literature from the Nile Mission Press, Cairo, circulates in Brazil and in China, while North Africa, Arabia and the Egyptian Sudan also report their dependence on Cairo for a great part of their supply of Christian books. But Cairo is not only a dis¬ tributing centre for the Moslem world. It is the capital of a nation with more and more national self-consciousness. If the Christian press in Cairo might fail by becoming Egypt- centred, it might also fail by forgetting its obligation to form the beginnings of a national Arabic Christian literature for the twelve million people immediately surrounding it. The Christian publication agencies in Egypt are the Nile Mission Press, the Literature Committee of the American Mission (United Presbyterian), the Literature Committee of the Church Missionary Society (partly in connexion with S.P.C.K. London), the Committee of the World’s Sunday School Association, the Literature Department of the Egypt General Mission, and the Editorial Board of Orient and Occident. The American Christian Literature Society for Moslems (New York) has given generous financial help to these various bodies on the field. With the great exception of the Nile Mission Press the output of all of these is small [52] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC in quantity (the longest list is of thirty-two titles), but each has brought distinctive gifts to the work. The chief producer has been the Nile Mission Press, on whose publication committee the other agencies have given voluntary service. The Nile Mission Press catalogue repre¬ sents the largest contribution of the Christian Church through any one society to Arabic literature for the Moslem world. The last edition of the catalogue shows eighty-two books (counting as a book everything above 50 pp. in length) and upwards of 320 smaller tracts. Looked at from the point of LITERACY IN EGYPT ACCORDING TO RELIGION MOSLEMS CHRISTIANS 5% LITERATE ai% UTERATE JEWS 44% UTERATE view of devoted toil on the part of the small personnel in Egypt under the leadership of Mr. A. T. Upson, this output is heroic. But looked at in relation to the whole Christian Church, as her largest literary contribution to the Arabic Moslem world, it is pitiful. This whole output can still be purchased for L.E. 5 including the library of the Moslem controversy, the books intended for Jews, and the books for Christians, down to the baby’s picture book. It is true, how¬ ever, that this sum represents the lowest price possible for manufacture and sale. No mission press has done more im¬ portant work. What has been done is invaluable. Its weight is far greater than its bulk, for not a book comes from the Press but is [53] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM published with definite purpose and definite prayer. This small total price is in part the result of a definite policy. Mr. Upson writes ‘Tt is our proudest boast, as it was our deliberate aim, to publish cheap penny tracts in paper covers, that the wayfaring man might find the way of salvation in Christ Jesus, however poor he might be.’' All honour to this policy. Only it is inconceivable that this output in any way represents all that the Church of Christ can do, in the intellectual capital of Islam, to provide a literature that shall set forth the Christ before Moslems, that shall present Christian teaching in all its fulness to the man who decides to leave all and follow Christ, and that shall form the Christian home-reading of the little children or the boys and girls whom such a man must struggle to bring up for Christ in the environment of a Moslem city. NOTEWORTHY FEATURES OF THE NILE MISSION PRESS LITERATURE (a) Standard Controversial Works: The Nile Mission Press has already provided a whole series of standard works on the Moslem controversy, such as the Apology of Al Kindy, and translations of Mizan id Haqq, Miftah ul A star and Sales’ Preliminary Discourse, and others. A work on the deity of our Lord under the title of The Lord of Glory is now in preparation. (b) Series of Tracts: This Press has also proved par¬ ticularly strong in its output of tracts, some of which are available in English basic manuscripts, and have been trans¬ lated into many other languages. The 420 titles of the Press include, besides individual tracts on various subjects, the fol¬ lowing series on connected subjects : 50 Portionettes, or leaflets in the words of Scripture. 22 Khutbas, or tracts in the style of a mosque sermon. 21 Story-Parables, the work of Miss Lilias Trotter and her helpers. 12 Parables from the same source, printed in two colours for women and children. [54] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC 19 “Zwemer tracts” for Moslems, with cover illustrations. 12 Grace and Truth Series, by Dr. A. P. Mackay. 17 Purity tracts. 5 Temperance tracts. (c) Christ’s Message for the Social Life : The purity and temperance tracts above-mentioned, together with a longer temperance story, a tract on kindness to animals and a tract against the all-prevalent lottery, mark the small beginnings of a witness by Christian literature for social righteousness. In all countries the bulk of such literature takes pamphlet form, as being more mobile and rapid for the meeting of special needs as they arise. N.M.P. has also in preparation a translation of The Out castes' Hope, a work of special importance from its testimony to the uplifting power of Christ among depressed classes. (d) Christ’s Message for Moslem Mystics: At Cairo, besides one book and two pamphlets on al Ghazzali, the Press has made a beginning in the presentation of Christ to the Sufi by the recent publication of The Problem of Self (Miss P. Hearst and Mr. A. T. Upson) and The Inward Way (Rev. J. Takle). (e) The Bible for Moslems: A beginning of ex¬ treme importance was made by publishing one book of the Bible, St. Matthew, with special notes for Moslems, pre¬ pared by Mr. George Swan of the Egypt General Mission. This first volume still awaits a successor. (f) Bahaism : The one tract under the title of The Truth about Babism and Behaism is the only Christian utter¬ ance in Arabic on this subject. (g) Biographies: A recent development of great im¬ portance is the beginning of Mr. Upson’s series of biog¬ raphies of heroes of the Christian Church. (h) The Message of the Keswick Convention: A strong note of the literature prepared for Christians by N.M.P. is the message so closely associated with the Keswick Convention, of the power of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. The note of revival and spiritual awaken¬ ing is clearly sounded. [55] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM (i) Stories: The Nile Mission Press has not yet found its story-writer, eastern or western, who can do in Egypt what A.L.O.E. did in India. But it has a handful of trans¬ lated stories from several sources, including perhaps the earliest story written for eastern readers by a writer from the West (Mrs. Sherwood’s Indian Pilgrim, begun in i8ii at Daniel Corrie’s instigation, as an expression of the inspira¬ tion of Henry Martyn’s work in Cawnpore). The Press has also translated several of Miss Louise Marston’s stories, sev¬ eral short stories from the Algiers Mission Band, one by A.L.O.E. and one by Ballantyne. NOTEWORTHY FEATURES OF THE LITERATURE PRODUCED BY OTHER SOCIETIES IN EGYPT (a) The Moslem Controversy: In the work of some other societies we have to note further additions to the special apologetics for Moslems. Thus the American Mis¬ sion adds, among other contributions, translations of two of Sir William Muir’s shorter works, as well as the massive and important oriental work called Al Hiddya, a detailed polemic reply to Izhar al Haqq. The Church Missionary Society adds half a dozen small books prepared by Canon Gairdner, each on a single topic. These books, which are published also in English by the Christian Literature Society for India, are important because each strikes out a fresh line of presenta¬ tion; they have done much to give direction to the newer apologetic. (b) Colloquial: The Egypt General Mission, both in its active evangelistic magazine, Beshair as Saldm, and still more in its colloquial leaflets and Scriptures, sounds the note of special care to bring the message of Christ within the reach of the simple and unlearned. This very slender store of collo¬ quial literature has lately been increased also by the inde¬ pendent publications which represent the spiritual service of Sir William Willcocks to a country that he has served so greatly in material things. [56] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC (c) Studies in Bible Characters: To the Church Missionary Society, Egypt owes the illustrated series of lives of the patriarchs, and of the lives of Christ and of St. Paul, specially prepared with reference to the difficulties of Moslem readers. And to these have recently been added three biblical dramas in which the reader’s historical imagination is called into the service of spiritual teaching. (d) Sunday School Literature: The World’s Sunday School Association has given to the Arabic coun¬ tries a series of leaflets, with a few books found useful in the West, on the work and training of the Sunday school teacher. Here again we see the beginning of an important movement, the value of which cannot readily be overestimated. Such teacher-training lies at the basis of progress. (e) Magazine Literature: Besides the magazines planned for Moslem evangelisation, like Beshair as Saldm above mentioned, Al Hudd, the Church paper of the American Mission (U.P.), has its Moslem readers. It has recently set apart a woman’s page with a special editor. Al Najm, the children’s Sunday school paper of the same Church, reaches a considerable number of Moslem pupils, while Al Band al Masri is sent to post-office officials. In this class of literature, Orient and Occident holds a unique position as the Christian magazine of most weight and influence in the Near East, with a considerable Moslem constituency. The pages of Orient 'and Occident have already provided material for reprints in permanent form, yielding more than half a dozen useful books, some published by the Nile Mission Press and some by C.M.S. Now that the magazine is under a joint editorial board, may Egypt not hope for further journalistic developments, reaching others than the Effendi class to whom in particular Orient and Occident appeals? It will be seen that the literature existing, when all present resources are counted up, touches many fields of thought and interest; but, except in the answers to Moslem arguments, it is almost at the beginning of effort in many fields. The achievements have been great, but the tasks ahead are immeas¬ urably greater. [57] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM LITERATURE NEEDED IN EGYPT The report voices the following needs : (a) Apologetics: “The modern output of the distinc¬ tively anti-Christian literature will demand attention and in some cases a reply. We need Christian apologetics to help those getting westernised education and thus exposed to west¬ ern attacks on the Christian position and to western heresies. For the student class our literature needs immediately a broadening along the lines of the Student Christian Move¬ ment publications in America and Britain ; also the adaptation of some of the leading papers on Christianity and modern thought, and the Bible and modern science, as found in the annual volumes of the Victoria Institute of London. The publication of such a series would meet the cheap unscientific arguments of Moslem infidelity and hypercriticism. (b) Literature on the Bible: “We need a much more varied literature on the Bible. Every convert needs the deepening of his thought life by Christ and our literature might breed up a set who regarded the Bible as a text-book for the Islamic controversy, missing its message for the whole of life and thought. Of commentaries ^ readable and attractive to the lay reader, it is probable that we need more than one complete series. Each should come out in parts at first : (a) running commentaries in the style of Baidhawi, (b) text with very short notes explaining or underlining points of spe¬ cial interest to Moslems, (c) notes on daily-portion series (d) translations or adaptations of some of the famous com¬ mentaries of modern times.” These last have their special importance, the report points out, from the fact that modern Islam uses as a favourite weapon, rationalistic and destructive attacks on Christianity learned from the anti-Christian forces of the West. Theosophy and Christian Science are among us too. Young educated Egyptian Christians, like students in other lands, cannot escape meeting these new forces. We shall not have acted fairly by them, or by our Moslem brethren who bring forward such attacks with triumphant conviction, if we do not put at their disposal the best work of reverent [58] FEMINISM IN THE SUDAN Women at Khartoum who are learning to read with the assistance of an educated Egyptian Bible woman. tr^- '( : "S ■ " .1 ■: -a ■■? : Sli®^’ ’tJ4* ii 'ITv't' siip:" ,.i:'- . '"■ I-l='i'V'r-' ^’•■^ ■ • ’- ■’ ,. • *‘* •^.'* •** •». 4 •- >•■*»■ , •a;' ;'fe ■ * . '*P- »“’,4 * «'j? . V '/X . J, '- « ,_ JI14 „ V • ■ -rf'*- - C:- ^ ■ y*- * ^ ■iy/n''. .-.'s 'i’-’Jf^r. '•' ■ ’a "•''«.■■ '- ■• •■•t< '- "■ ■' ’ '' ’ ■■'^«‘^-s ■^'- “ '' ’■f:- - •'•*:?•: ^ '??k^.-- . .(-»■ , . .- ' y?’ .,'■*" ’ .■ , _ ■Jp- > Vfi- •C _ ' *^1*1 * * 1 ♦ _ . . ^ ^C ■ -^0 t i^inL ' ^ ■'■ . . *-■ ■• ■; .- - ‘"'-' - ' vVfet«4S i *1. hr - ^ai i " ''^3K!\CrJBS>' ii ? . r -A.-H-. ■: , .- .. . ■• 9 ' * ■ 1 "t: -V- :' - - ■• ' • ‘ ■ < ' ' » ^ - -1^. -« ■ V*\ flfc- . V -> ' . ■ ?• Vr?« .., ,-.- ,.“4: . '. . : c/W;.x ‘ -44 • • : .’t- -i>. r’---‘.' ■■ '-. ' '• ‘‘‘^ • '■*•:". ^ J "- ‘ -i^‘' : C 'mW J ^ r* Jt. < #- ^ I . « M I* ■ IV*; ' ■ , » . . ■-, . . .. o';'*-^ ■iifla fj * I • A . -y CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC Christian scholarship of recent times. The Egyptian Church like the Church in other lands must be ready not only to die for the faith that is in her, but to give a reason for it. “We also need books, short and clear, to guide the Moslem in reading the Bible — possibly with references to passages under various subject headings, e.g., the Unity of God, Instances of answered Prayers, Conditions of Prayer. A guide through the Bible in explaining the order (or non¬ order) of books, with sections arranged chronologically. Leaflets of Gospel incidents or parables with suitable intro¬ duction and brief notes to help explain terms objected to, like ‘Son of God,’ avoiding the offence now caused by our unex¬ plained ‘portionettes.’ ” (c) Literature on Christ’s Message for Life: “The emphasis of our literature has been too much on doctrine and too little on practice of Christianity. Greater emphasis is required on the redemptive power of Christianity for society, and the application of Christian principles to the personal and moral side of life; biographies of heroes and heroines of service; stories picturing true home life; books on the position, influence, special work and opportunities of women; biographies of women; books on missions and world peace; booklets on moral, social and international problems from the Christian standpoint.” (d) General Home Reading: Nearly all of the litera¬ ture of home life is yet lacking, such as rhymes, games, home lessons, handwork, nature books, home handicrafts, general stories, adventure stories. “We need a whole litera¬ ture to give healthy interests in the world around us. We need the adaptation of such material as is found in Popular Science; also books describing other countries, peoples, habits, with the underlying purpose of making clear causes of strength and weakness. Simple books on fundamentals of physiology, first aid and hygiene and also some equivalent to the Home University Library would be very useful.” (e) Books for the Semi-Literate: “There is a great and populous borderland between literacy and illiter¬ acy. We need to prepare a large assortment of simple [59] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM illustrated books, especially with coloured pictures. Whether for the highly educated or for these simple folk we have not used the power of verse. Egypt is a land of poets and poetry, yet she is very short of popular hymns and religious poetry. A medical missionary of long experience expresses the urgent need for a very short Story of Jesus in colloquial or easy classical rhyme, with a repeated chorus for use at clinics and in village evangelism. The eagerness with which audiences take up the chorus of a psalm or hymn is very suggestive of larger and wider use of this method, so successful in India and Korea. We must teach the people to sing the gospel story, and experiments must be continued in different types of versification. Colloquial verse should be composed to a tune.” IF. C hristian Literature in Syria and Palestine Syria, which produced so great a literature in the early Christian centuries, was the country of the first effort of the reformed Churches in Christian apology for Moslems. Ed¬ ward Pocock, who had made himself a profound Arabic scholar while chaplain of the English factory at Aleppo, trans¬ lated, after consultation at Paris with the learned author, Grotius De Veritate Religionis Christianae. This work was put into circulation at Beirut in 1660. But Beirut had long to wait for a more systematised effort. The literature scrutinised by the present survey is the product of the American Press, moved from Malta to Beirut in 1834, but sorely harassed in the past by Turkish restrictions which made publication for Moslems impracticable. The Catholic (Jesuit) Press, founded in 1850, in Beirut, besides publishing Roman Catholic works has specialised on works of scholarship, with antiquarian, scientific and his¬ torical and linguistic interests. Its dictionaries and standard edition of the Arabian Nights are known of all. It has spe¬ cialised in work dealing with the relation of science and reli¬ gion and in Christian apologetic based on most careful re- [60] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC search into Islamic history and the mediaeval Christian writings that bear on the subject. The Beirut literature, under the cruel muzzling of the Turks, had to be prepared for Christians only. It was not even permissible to make Christian books comprehensible to Moslem readers by inserting in their interest explanations of terms difficult and offensive to them. Similar conditions have of course prevailed in the past under Turkish rule in Palestine, where, for this and other reasons, the literary side of Mission work has been of late very much in the background. Though the country is hungry for reading matter, it is not producing any Christian litera¬ ture, or is doing so to an imponderable extent. There is one very small weekly paper in connection with the Jerusalem con¬ gregation of the American Alliance Mission. Owing to the small population of the country, it would be difficult, even with the new eagerness for reading, to make publications pay unless they could be shared by other lands. Yet there is a special interest for the Moslem world in books that come from Jerusalem; and the trans-Jordanian missions of Pales¬ tine are in direct touch with Moslems from Mecca, Medina and most parts of Arabia. Palestine has, compared with most Moslem countries, an influential native Church which however has not yet risen to the task of preparing Christian literature, but is dependent for its supply upon, the Beirut and Cairo mission presses. The Rev. W. W. Cash writes : ‘‘There is no missionary in Palestine who has specialised on literature, and no one who has made a study of Moslem literature with sufficient fulness to be able to tackle literary work as has been done by Dr. Zwemer and Canon Gairdner. Consequently there is a lack of real interest in literature production. “Yet Palestine offers open doors for Moslem work, in a way seldom if ever before known. “Direct Moslem evangelism will probably be a feature of post-war mission methods, and already there are signs that the missionaries feel that pre-war methods will not do and [6i] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM that they must think out anew the best way of approaching the Arab mind in Palestine. In this, literature will form an important factor. ‘The traditions of the old Turkish rule make it inadvisable that some of the literature of the most aggressive type be used. Moslems have not yet adjusted themselves to the new conditions and they are apt to take fright at booklets, khutbas, etc., that make a frontal attack on the tenets of their faith. At the same time the Moslem of Palestine to-day is willing to discuss Christianity with an open mind, and he is anxious to know what we do believe and why we believe it. “This peculiar condition forms both an opportunity and a danger. Evangelisation may be set back by the unwise dis¬ tribution of some types of literature for Moslems. But the open-minded way the Moslems receive us gives us a great opportunity. “All this may appear irrelevant to a survey of literature, but I say it to make one point, that in thinking of literature for such a country as Palestine some specialisation should be done, and only literature carefully scrutinised should be distributed.’^ NOTEWORTHY FEATURES OF THE LITERATURE PUBLISHED IN SYRIA (a) Educational Books: The press has been per¬ mitted, under a galling censorship, to produce literature for the education of the Christian community and until the recent developments of Government education it has been the chief source in Syria, Palestine and Arabia for Arabic readers and general school books, while it is the printer of several im¬ portant dictionaries. (b) Biblical: Shut off from interpreting the Bible to non-Christians, the press has determined at least to provide helps for Bible study by Christians, and has produced the only complete commentary on the New Testament in Arabic, and the only Bible dictionary, concordance, and scripture [62] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC atlas. Works on theology have also been prepared for the training and use of the Arabic Christian ministry. (c) Story Literature : Still with the Christian Church in view, it has produced story translations some of which are among the most popular works in the Near East, such as Ben Hur. Most of such stories, being translations from such writers as the author of Christie's Old Organ, are almost incomprehensible to Moslems, but there are exceptions. The Pilgrim's Progress translated by Bustani has had a large circulation and is much admired. A hopeful sign is the recent production by some younger Syrian writers of clean stories in original Arabic, which bears promise of future literary service by Syrian Christians for their countrymen of the various faiths. (d) Apologetic Literature for Moslems: Syria has never been without her witnesses to Moslems. Chief among such writers was the Protestant pastor named ‘Atiyah, author of the well-known Sweet First Fruits, translated and appreciated in so many eastern languages, Mandr at Haqq and other works. ^‘These could not be issued from Beirut,” says the report, ‘‘or freely used in Syria. They were published in Egypt and only used in Syria with much caution under the intensely bitter opposition of the Turkish Govern¬ ment. The manuscript of a further work, the fruit of the writer’s ripest years, was destroyed, or at least seized by the Turks and never returned, during the war years.” Since the new freedom of the press the Rev. G. A. Ford has begun the production of booklets especially for Moslems, with the issue of Nur al 'Alam and The Birthday Gift. He hopes to de¬ velop this line of work and is publishing privately an im¬ portant Life of Christ. literature needed The report emphasises the following needs, not as cover¬ ing the whole ground of literature production but as of out¬ standing urgency: [63] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM 1. ‘There seems a fairly general consensus of opinion that Moslems in Syria do not know the simple elements of evangelical Christian teaching. These simple elements should be stated by one who knows the doctrines of Islam.” 2. Wholesome Christian stories and biographies for young people, entertaining reading, and Christian stories of adventure. 3. Books for women, especially biographies. Palestine adds the following note on the character of the literature desired : “The Moslem of Palestine has not got the traditions of the Azhar behind him. He does often look at things with a freshness not always found in Cairo, and he needs the best the Christian writers can give him. He has a natural interest in the stories connected with the very land in which he lives. He always responds to anything on the life and character of our Lord. He will reason and discuss, but he does not seem to be as fond of an argument as the Moslem of Egypt.” Other branches of literature needed in Palestine are books for native Christians : Bible-study books, devotional books. It should be remembered in this connection that most of the Christians of Palestine belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, and will need literature of a special type.” V. Arabia and ‘Iraq. It is said that in the days of A1 Ma’mun hundreds of camels used to file into Baghdad laden with no other freight than volumes of Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Persian literature for the scholars of the city. After these had been translated into Arabic, report says that the original manuscripts were destroyed. The story is typical of the part Baghdad has always played as a middleman of cultures. From its founda¬ tion it has been a meeting ground for the Persian and the Arab. The connection still exists. There is a Persian popu¬ lation to-day along the east Arabian littoral, and the report from Persia must touch ‘Iraq, but the present chapter treats [64] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC ^Iraq as a part of the Arab world, and in connection with the survey of the Arabian peninsula. The pure Arab is not a bookish person, and the mingled peoples of ‘Iraq have forgotten their ancient scholarship. But Baghdad is astir now as a commercial and poltical centre and is demanding reading matter. Commerce and religious inter¬ ests make her a great focus of Moslem life. Here is a centre for a strong Christian literary policy, as the report would have us recognise. The small mission staffs, amid populations whose interests were not dominantly literary, and the knowl¬ edge that Arabic literature was being produced by specialists in other fields, have hindered production in this area. “Full use is made of all Arabic and Persian Christian literature published in Egypt, Syria and India.” But “many of the words are different,” and with the increase of readers, need is felt for additional books more racy of the Arabian soil. LITERATURE PRODUCED The present output of the Missions in Arabia is confined to two books of questions and answers on the Gospels for school-children and simple enquirers, with Speer’s “Principles of Jesus” specially adapted for Moslems. In preparation are “continued stories of the Life of Christ and of the Acts of the Apostles, in Moslem Arabic and interspersed with sentence homilies and very brief explanations of phrases strange to a Moslem.” LITERATURE NEEDED When we. turn to the literary ambitions of the missionaries of this field we find them bold. Using, as they do, all the Arabic literature that they can obtain from India, Syria and Egypt, the workers in Arabia all feel that many important types of books are seriously lacking, and that others need re-writing for Arabian conditions. The following types of books are felt to be a special need in Arabia to-day: [65] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Special Apologetic: (a) Explanations for Moslems of terms used in the Bible and other Christian books which are generally found objectionable; and (b) books to meet the many '"waqf^ works published under public ecclesi¬ astical funds and distributed freely to controvert the Christian position. The replies should be as available as the attacks, (c) A simple presentation of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit refuting the physical idea of Islam, (d) Books for school pupils examining, correcting and enlarging upon the teaching given upon Christ and Christians in Moslem schools. Expository Literature: Very simple and dealing only with the primary facts of Christianity, and centering in Jesus Christ as found in the Gospel story; avoiding as far as possible the old Christian nomenclature — as if He himself came again among men with an appeal unconnected with centuries of strife between Christianity and Islam. Literature for Moslem Sectaries: Arabia has been the home of very many sects. There rose Wahhabiism with Senussiism in its womb. “Our Committee will rec¬ ognise the need of securing missionaries to specialise in the study of special sects and to provide Christian literature to meet their views. One Shi’ah scholar has written four or five volumes dealing with the peculiar tenets of different sects. Last year he succeeded in winning over all the members of the Sheikhiya sects in Kuwait, numbering 50,000, to the Shi’i communion.” Books of Prayers and Instruction in Praying : These are in great demand. Biographies: Especially of converted Moslems. The contagion of brave example is great. Story Books: “Such as Janfiah (Genevieve), which George Zaidan says is the most affecting book he ever read, to set forth the principles of Christ as lived out in individual lives.” Educative Literature : Histories, especially the people’s own history, and stories of moral and intellectual advance in other countries, especially in Christian countries. [66] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC VI. Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia This great Arabic field has a situation all its own. Here the divisive line between the old and new types of education is even clearer than elsewhere, owing to the French policy of assimilation. The student of the Jami‘a ez-Zaituna at Tunis or the Kairawiyyin at Fez still comes forth with the old Koranic training and scholarship, and demands, like his brothers in the Azhar or Damascus, a specialised Christian scholarship. On the other hand the boy from the government school is turned out not with a modernised Arabic training but with a French training. This one needs scholarly Arabic literature. The other needs literature in French, or if in Arabic, not in the literary language he has never learned, but in the language of home life. The report tells of a stir abroad. The French schools have bred up a spirit of enquiry; an increasing proportion of the population has crossed the Mediterranean; and the cinema has opened a new world to many and created a desire to read the stories shown on the screen. All this results in an increasing number, some of Berber and some of Arab origin, who master an alphabet and can read, but have not learned a literary language. Such semi-literates demand a Christian literature in the language of speech, — whether in North African Arabic or in a Berber tongue. This chapter can only survey the output and the desiderata in the Arabic language. French and Berber litera¬ ture must be considered later. EXISTING CHRISTIAN LITERATURE “Whatever exists in classical Arabic, published in Egypt or Beirut,” says the report, “is available for all who can utilise it. The controversial type has been furnished by the Nile Mission Press of Egypt which is now doing more in the expository line. The N.M.P. has answered an urgent need by its publications. It would be still more useful if it could enlarge its programme. There are also some periodicals (such [67] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM as Orient and Occident and Beshair es Saldm) that should be more widely used.” The literature produced in the North African field itself has been chiefly a tract literature. One correspondent quotes with approval the advice of Sir William Muir that books of any size are less likely to be bought by Moslems than tracts, and that works like Mizdn-al-Haqq should be printed in sec¬ tions and circulated in tract form. Apologetic Works: Besides the translation of Cur Deus Homo (now out of print), thirteen tracts have been published in literary Arabic by various authors. Most of these are now out of print. And six have been prepared but not yet published. This unpublished series deals with difficult phrases such as “Word of God,” “Spirit of God,” “Son of God,” “Gospel or Gospels.” Illustrated Parables: “The great opportunity,” says Miss Trotter of Algiers, “seems to be for literature on the ground of the universal need of the human heart for salvation, irrespective of the creed in which the individual was born, though the standpoint of that creed should be recognised.” This is the characteristic note of her well-known series of story parables produced in North African colloquial Arabic in Algiers.^ Decorated Scripture : This field has initiated a unique type of work in the use of eastern illumination. The Ten Commandments, special Psalms, books of texts for a month, the “I am’s” of St. John, and various other Scripture passages have been produced with designs from Arabic illumi¬ nations. Where these are in black ink only, they have been used to give boys’ classes the joy of adding colour to the patterns. The Gospel according to St. John decorated with coloured illuminations copied from Arabic manuscripts in the British Museum, was prepared in Algeria, printed in Britain and published in Cairo by the Nile Mission Press at the expense of the American Christian Literature Society for Moslems. This first serious effort to use Arabic art in Arabic ‘Also in simple classical Arabic by the Nile Mission Press, Cairo. [68] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC Christian literature is already stimulating similar efforts elsewhere. Verse: The fascination of colloquial verse is realised in this field. Besides two colloquial hymn books, Mr. Percy Smith has prepared the story of the Creation and Fall and the story of the Life of Christ in this medium. LITERATURE DESIRED ^ Apologetics: The following lines of development are suggested : a. Historical method: “For the better-educated the best method of controversy is the scientific historical method centring round the fact of the Death of Christ. It cannot be without weight to those influenced by the modern spirit of inquiry. In applying scientific historical criticism to Islamic history and writings, the Christian invites the same method of historical criticism to be applied to Christianity, the Person of Christ and the New Testament. The Christian is not afraid of historical enquiry, but it is fatal to the halo of glory that tradition has woven round the head of Mohammed and the origins of Islam. The small book of Sir William Muir on Mohammed and Islam, translated into French and Arabic and completed by the same author’s tract on The Rise and Decline of Islam would be singularly useful for dissipating a lot of false notions, while being fair to Islam. It could be supple¬ mented by a setting forth of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, or an outline of His life, as a contrast.” b. Tracts to meet difficulties : “In both literary and North African Arabic we need a series of tracts to meet the difficulties that a sincere Moslem experiences in reading the gospels, e.g. what is the meaning of the word Injil? Why is the gospel found in a four-fold form? What is the mean¬ ing of the phrase ‘Kingdom of God,’ ‘Kingdom of Heaven’? Since Jesus was circumcised, why do Christians not practice *It must be remembered under this heading that books desired in French for the French-educated classes are omitted in this chapter, although many of the desiderata here mentioned are also needed in French or Kabyle or both. [69]. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM circumcision? Why was the distinction between clean and unclean foods abolished in Christianity? These are not idle questions but real difficulties constantly met by Moslems in reading the gospels. They furnish good occasions for explaining far-reaching principles.’' c. A series on the great doctrines of the gospel, on sin, repentance, faith, the law of God, the atonement, pardon, regeneration, intercession. d. A special apologetic for mystics, who are more open on the spiritual side than ordinary Moslems. Bible Histories: We need in North African Arabic a Harmony of the Gospels, a short Life of Christ, a Life of Paul and studies in the lives and work of the Apostles, so as to give a clear idea of the founding of the Christian Church ; illustrated Scripture histories also, for boys and girls. Biography and Church History: ‘Tn North African Arabic we need more biography, and especially biographies of converts and stories of their work, and of martyrs and perse¬ cutions, as well as general mission narratives and a short Church history.” Evangelistic Tracts and Pictures: *‘We need great numbers in North African Arabic, besides those that come from Egypt or Syria. Oriental designs on first page; use of story, parable and proverb; good pictorial illustrations. Also pictures for use in work like village visiting, — a couple of dozen scenes from the life of our Lord each bearing a Bible verse or chorus to be learned. Also short and pointed two-page leaflets, in large print, in colloquial Arabic.” Teachers’ Books: ‘Tn North African Arabic we want manuals of instruction in class work, for use by mission¬ aries and by native Sunday school teachers. Scripture pictures for pupils are needed with sufficient margin to allow of printing explanations in Arabic and French.” Books on Christian Life: “Especially something on the Christian ideal of the family. Stories of Chris¬ tian married life in its loyalty and devotion. Stories of the heroines of Christendom, showing how Christ has released the powers of womanhood. Stories from real life showing [70] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC the beauty of truthfulness, purity, sacrifice, toil for others. Papers on the moral training of children.” General Home Reading: “Short works on interest¬ ing phases of history, short booklets on popular science and travel, and an abundance of healthy fiction for youth, with stories of adventure, scout lore and scout law, papers on arts and crafts.” Christ’s Message for Social Life : “Simple clear instructions, on Christian lines, in household hygiene, social reforms, temperance, first aid, purity, social service, not neglecting to point out the evils of early marriage, divorce, witchcraft, fortune-telling, etc.” Verse: “Popular poetry in North African Arabic exists as sung by native musicians. It consists of tales from the past, erotic or satiric verses and complaints. Some of it is of merit. We need to get Arab Christians with this gift to be employed for Christian purposes. Metrical versions may be a way of evangelising the ignorant and them that are out of the way. It would be good if the gospel story were put into form that could be chanted or sung somewhat in the line of the recitations of their own blind singers.” Little Children : Kindergarten stories in big type with pictures. VII. General Conclusions- When each area of the Moslem world has voiced its need, the impression is one of bewilderment. Each country in turn says that the opportunity is “unparalleled.” Each country states the need, not of a dozen or two dozen books, but of a literature reaching out to speak for Christ to all sorts and conditions of men. Each Arabic land asks not only for books to meet the old Islamic arguments and the old Islamic spirit still abroad, but also for books to help the semi-western educated types. Each country asks for a literature for women. Each country emphasises the need for Christian story- literature. Each country asks for a literature for boys and [71] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM girls. It is clear that very varied minds are needed for the production of this very varied literature. Gifts of scholarship have been perhaps the first requirement of the literature mis¬ sionary in the Moslem world. They are still needed, but beside them gifts of imagination are now called to service. ‘‘We need combination and we need fresh writing powers to be called into play.” {North African Report.) The suggestions made for such combination, — for the better use of every little gift of originative power and imagi¬ native sympathy in the small missionary force, are of such importance that they must be gathered together in a special chapter on authorship. Meanwhile, we note several conclusions concerning more than one field, as to the directions to be taken by Arabic Christian literature in the Moslem world. It is probable that none of these have received much stress in former reports on such literature. LITURGICAL LITERATURE The literature of public worship, found in all Arabic fields, though not designed for Moslems, may have great indirect influence. The American (United Presbyterian) Mission in Egypt has brought out a large and important edition of an Arabic Metrical Psalter. The S.P.C.K. London has published the Book of Common Prayer for Anglican congregations in the Arabic world. The Beirut Press has published the Arabic Hymn-book most used in all Arabic lands, the last edition being prepared with the help of a committee from the Church Missionary Society, Palestine and Egypt. Mr. George Ashkar of the Beirut Press has collected some new hymns and songs for Sunday school use, and the Rev. Percy Smith has made a similar collection in colloquial Arabic, for Algerian children. A collection of Egyptian Hymn Tunes, from oriental sources has been published by Canon Gairdner of Cairo. In this direction, Arabia urges further effort, and the Rev. A. H. Bilkert writes : “The translations of some of the grand old hymns of the Church are splendid. But it seems the height [72] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC of the ridiculous to force western music upon an oriental people. The Arabic world needs someone to do for it, what the Rev. H. A. Popley has done for Indian music. I doubt if there is much if any edification for Moslem listeners, at present, when they hear hymns sung to western tunes. An oriental tune is music to them, and some of us have learned to enjoy it. More than that it may be the means of singing the message of Christ into Moslem hearts. Let us think twice before we add to the present stock of western tunes to oriental hymns.” DIGLOT LITERATURE Arabic as the sacred language of Islam has attractive and convincing power, and comes with religious authority in Moslem lands, where it is not the mother-tongue. Consid¬ erable use should be made of diglot texts. In North Africa, French and Arabic, or Italian and Arabic reinforce one another in this way. In China, Malaysia and the Straits Settlements, literature with the vernacular printed alongside of Arabic, or interlinear, as is the frequent Moslem practice, is like a double-barrelled gun. The Cairo Moslem press prints such diglots of A1 Ghazali and other important texts for Java¬ nese, Madurese and Malay readers. Much of the Moslem literature of China is diglot. LITERATURE FOR MOSLEM MYSTICS The importance of a Christian literature for the mystics of Islam in Arabic, as in other great Moslem languages, is only beginning to be realised. Canon W. H. T. Gairdner writes : “The hold which mysticism has upon Moslems and the reality of the part it plays in their religious lives cannot be exaggerated. If mysticism had at first some difficulty in finding its way into the Moslem scheme, no such difficulty existed in Christianity, for which the two words, in Christo, enshrine a divine mysticism in the heart of religion from the very outset, and which was unembarrassed by the formal rigidities of Islam. Do not these facts constitute a call to the Christian Church more deeply to experience all that lies [73] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM in Christo, and further, to attempt to interpret and preach that experience to Mohammedans?” Even for Moslems outside the dervish movements, we have in this direction an appeal whose force has not yet been realised. The doctor in charge of a mission hospital in Arabia reports as follows : “The effects of particular Christian teachings were noted in dealing with in-patients. The teach¬ ing which seemed to meet most frequently a need that the Arab felt, the one truth that his heart seemed to thirst for, was the teaching of mystical union between Christ and the believer as taught in John VI, XV and other passages. It was a considerable surprise to find that the materialistic Arab is so appealed to on this aspect of truth.” PICTURES It is clear from the reports that although orthodox Islam, following Moslem tradition, considers pictures forbidden, tradition has now been effectively abrogated by the cinema, by illustrated school-books and by pictorial advertising. The reports are full of the new need for pictures : “Pictures serve well in village visiting, where the women can hear so seldom and need something to rivet memory.” “The next focus before us is a series of story tracts with gay and thrilling covers.” “We want illustrated literature for Sunday Schools.” “Kindergarten stories with pictures.” “Picture books of all kinds for small children are a great want. Illustrations are essential in children’s literature.” “Colporteurs say that books with illustrations on the covers, especially coloured pictures, sell best.” “It is especially neces¬ sary to prepare a large assortment of illustrated books for the nearly illiterate.” THE ARABIC COLLOQUIALS In the past, much has been said and written for and against publishing Christian literature in colloquial Arabic.® * Articles on the subject appeared in The Moslem World, Jan., 1914, Oct., 1917, July, 1918, Oct., 1919. [74] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC It is not the business of this report to continue that fruitful argument, nor the many other arguments among native Arabists as to the style (“high” or otherwise) to be followed in writing the classical tongue. Recent scholarship has placed the Arabic colloquials in a new position of interest for students of Semitic languages by establishing their antiquity as independent forms. Dr. T. W. Arnold says: “It has only recently come to be recognised that the various dialects are not debased forms of classical Arabic, but have lived an independent life of their own, preserving often (especially in their morphology) early characteristics which can be traced back beyond the time when reverence for the Koran caused the dialect in which it was written to become the established medium of literary expression. “The amazing thing is that these many forms of Arabic dialect should have maintained a continuous life, side by side with so powerful a literary tradition.” That is a pronouncement on the past, but neither this report nor the highest scholarship can decide what is the future tendency of the various forms of Arabic. No one at the beginning of the 19th century would have prophesied the present development of Bengali as the language of a great literature. So to-day we cannot tell whether a just pride in a vast literature and a religious loyalty to the Koranic speech, whose uniformity is one of the consolidating forces of Islam, will draw the spoken language closer to the present classical form; or whether national life, and some creative impulse within any one Arabic-speaking people will override loyalty to the religious tongue, and produce a literature in one of the spoken languages. The forces of education seem working in opposite direc¬ tions. In Egypt education is on the side of the classical language. In Algeria, French education, by producing an educated class whose only Arabic is colloquial, has an opposite tendency. We cannot prophesy but we can record a growing sense [75] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM among all thoughtful people of the intolerable handicap of the present divorce between the written and the spoken tongues. “The two forms of Arabic/’ says the Egyptian report, “differ so greatly that separate grammars are required for each.” Though a child quickly learns to read the Arabic script he only slowly learns to understand the classical vo¬ cabulary in which it is written, and an immense amount of fluent reading goes on in schools that is not understood, while an immense amount of time is lost in the teaching of general subjects, by the necessity of explaining classical words. Hitherto Christian, like Moslem literature, has been almost entirely written in the classical language, though in a simple undecorated form of it. It has been inevitably so, and there is much cause for thankfulness that the unity of the Arabic literary language, which lent so much of solidarity to Islam, also prepared a mighty and wide-spread constituency for the Holy Scriptures and other Christian works in classical Arabic. No survey report questions that the bulk of Christian Arabic literature must be prepared, as it always has been, in a simple classical Arabic. Not too much but far too little has been done in that direction. A book in the literary language can circulate among all Moslems who have received an Arabic education. No substitute is proposed or can be proposed for the preparation of a great literature in this language. But the reports suggest, in addition to this, the need to branch out in two directions. The first of these additional undertakings is urged on behalf of the simple and unlearned, the second on behalf of men with artistic joy in higher Arabic style. (i) The survey reveals that, with the spread of literacy, a new class of readers has come into being, hitherto negligible as a constituency for literature. These are people who, through the spread of education, have had enough schooling to teach them the phonetic values of the Arabic alphabet, but who, as they mouth out their syllables, fail to get the sense of what they read in classical Arabic, because ^hey have not gone far enough to learn the literary vocabulary. It is not [76] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC possible to decide whether this class will endure. Possibly a couple of decades will see it pass; but during the years of advance in elementary education we must reckon with a per¬ ceptible class in Arabic lands, as in India, of these semi¬ literates. The reports say : “It is especially necessary to prepare a large assortment of illustrated works for the nearly illiterate. There is a great and populous borderland between literacy and illiteracy. The colloquial should be developed cautiously in (a) Bible stories, (b) simple drama, (c) gospel exhortations, (d) hymns and scripture narratives in verse for reciting or singing.’’ {Egyptian Report.) “A great number of those able to read Arabic a little have not sufficient knowledge to be able to use with profit the literary language. For such readers, we need literature in a simpler form of Arabic, that is, in the best form of spoken Arabic. The large sale of portions of scripture in this form of Arabic, in Algeria and Morocco, is sufficient proof of the suitability of this type of literature for the ordinary reader who cannot be said to be literate in the classical tongue.” {Report for Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.) “Local writers, native and foreign, are required to write the literature in the local vernacular, which differs in many points from Syrian and Egyptian Arabic. Translations of Arabic works from other countries into the local dialects are both desirable and necessary. Not even the simplest Nile Mission Press tracts are understood by our women.” {Arabian Report). Among such Arabian dialects must not be forgotten that of Hadramaut which is also the language of the island of Sokotra, once wholly Christian, now wholly Moslem. There is no missionary work and no Christian literature. The Syrian report is the only one that does not suggest the need of a very simple popular literature, reaching out even to the language of speech. At the same time, the Syrian report remarks that “The difference between the common colloquial and literary Arabic of even a simple sort is so great as greatly [77] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM to lessen the effect of literature when read aloud to illiterates by a neighbour or friend.” These quotations are enough to show that there is a class of simpler folk who cannot read the gospels through the medium of our ordinary classical literature, but who are now coming within reach of the message of the printed page as they have never done before, provided that page can speak a language that they know. 2. In the other direction, those who take joy in the rich¬ ness of Arabic style often find Christian literature, with its care for plainness of speech, disappointingly bald in manner. The Egyptian report points out that though Egypt is a land of poetry, we have not developed a Christian school of Arabic verse. Syria’s emphasis is still stronger. The Syrian friends consulted in drawing up the report complained that Nile Mission Press publications were not acceptable in Syria “owing to their too bald and simple style.” Syrian scholars would have Christian classical literature made more literary in the Arabic sense. SUMMARY When we attempt to summarise, the present situation seems as follows : 1. There is as much need as ever for a great classical Arabic Christian literature in the simplest possible literary style. There is no suggestion whatever that this might be superseded or made unnecessary by othei developments. It was and is the first and greatest work; 2. There is an additional need that for the present in each Arabic country we shall prepare some books with the homeliest spoken words and grammatical forms to meet the needs of the barely-literate ; 3. It is very desirable that as we increase our product we shall also prepare some of our books to appeal to lovers of classical verse and of a higher Arabic style. This must of course be subsidiary to a plain preaching of the gospel in plain words for plain readers, but it is involved in the Chris- tianisation of Arabic art and thought. [78] Chapter IV CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR TURANIAN AND BALKAN MOSLEMS Literature itself will enter upon a new career of beauty and power as the fructifying minds of great races come into active possession of the riches of modern knowledge. — James S. Dennis, in “Chris¬ tian Missions and Social Progress,” Vol. Ill, p. 213. In Persian mediaeval epic a word was used for those frontier-defying steppes of Central Asia that cross the con¬ tinent unchecked, until they break at last against the great wall of China — it was the word Turan. From those steppes, throughout the middle ages, poured forth wave after wave of barbarous humanity, swamping Baghdad and surging on; breaking again and again on the walls of Constantinople; swamping that too and surging on; and only held at last before the gates of Vienna. The greatest missionary achievement of Islam was not her early conversion of conquered races, but rather the conquest of her conquerors, when she drew these barbarians to the faith in spite of odds against her. In our later days, after twenty generations of Islam, Turks under the spell of nationalism have quite de¬ liberately looked back to the pit whence they were digged,^ ^ Mr. C. T. Riggs of Constantinople, on the authority of The Near East, contributed the following to The Moslem World, January, 1919: “A little over two years ago, a prayer specially drawn up by Enver Pasha, the Turkish Minister of War, was ordered to be recited every night by each soldier in the Turkish army. This remarkable document contains no refer¬ ence whatever to Islam, and is a deliberate attempt to turn back the hands of the clock to pre-Moslem times. The translation follows : “Almighty God! Grant the Turks wealth, and unite all the Brethren in the benevo¬ lence of the Sultan. That thy power may be glorified, grant us the favour of the White Wolf. Thou, young Turan, Thou beloved Fatherland, we beseech thee to show us the path. Our great ancestor Abhouz calls us. [79] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM have called the word ‘‘Turan” to their service and taught the world to know the phrase “Pan-Turanian”; by which they announce their kinship with the dwellers on the desiccated steppes. Students of language too, needing a name for those agglutinative languages akin to Turkish, have used the word “Turanian” as a label for tongues found from Finland to the Chinese border. Regarded territorially, this enormous habitat of the central Asian plains is the greatest “unoccupied mission field” of the world. Shut away from us behind a screen of teeming and fascinating lands, the Moslems of central Asia on their vast and thinly populated plains have not called out the service of Christendom; and at the point where the Turanian peoples reached the sea, where indeed Islam drew closest to Western Christendom, and the Moslems of Turkey were our neigh¬ bours, approach was baffled not only by religious intolerance but by the traditional antagonism of old enemies on the field. Regarded linguistically too, this great block of the world’s surface contains a group of kindred tongues which have not yet called out much thought or care from Christendom. This constitutes part of the missionary task of Russian Chris¬ tianity,^ and in the past the Russian Church has built up the beginnings of an educational Christian literature for the Moslem subjects of Russia. Now the whole structure of offi¬ cial effort by the Russian Church is temporarily smashed, and western missionary effort in the Turkish lands is only carried on with the utmost precariousness of tenure, all that we can do is to survey the chief Moslem groups and languages, record what beginnings of Christian literature have been made for Almighty God, shed upon the Turks the blaze of thy light, that the path of Turan may be plain and dwellings be illuminated in every place and corner with a rosy glow.” The White Wolf was the Turkish god of war while they were still a Tatar tribe east of the Caspian. * Mr. Arnold Toynbee, speaking to the Central Asian Society in 1918, gave the number of Moslems under Russian rule as 19,000,000. No fewer than 16,000,000 of these Moslems, he said, were Turkish speaking. The present survey, 1922, gives the number of Russian Moslems at 13,907,000, a considerably different estimate, but still leaving to Russian Christians a sufficiently great home missionary problem, should they again find freedom for their activities. [80] [8i] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM them in the past, and seek the direction of the Holy Spirit as to how and where this or any other service for them may be continued. The chief language groups of Moslems in this great habitat (excluding distinctively Christian languages like Armenian and Modern Syriac) are as follows : ® Osmanli Turkish, Azerbaijani Turkish, Sart Turkish, Tatar Kirghiz and Qazaq. Besides these main groups, there are of course lesser ones, such as the half million who speak Circassian in Russia and the northern provinces of Anatolia; or half a million between the Caspian and the Oxus whose tongue is Turkoman ; or again the Tadjik of Bokhara for whom not so much as a Scripture portion has yet been printed in their own tongue. Innumer¬ able slight differences of dialect also persist in a region where life is yet largely tribal. One of the most baffling difficulties for the literature mis¬ sionary to these lands lies in the distribution of the languages in patterns of mosaic intricacy over vast, thinly populated areas. The welter of race and language in Constantinople or in the Caucasus is well known; but it does not cease there. Miss Jenny de Mayer, a pioneer worker among the Moslems of Central Asia, tells us that in Russian Turkestan she used Scriptures in ten different languages to reach Moslems, while if she were to reach the entire population, she had need in addition of three or four Indian languages, six or eight European, and three in Hebrew character for Jews. The problem of distribution will be no easy one ; but at present in most of the languages used by Moslems the earlier question of production is hardly yet tackled. I. Osmanli T urkish This is the language of some 8,000,000 Moslems in Anatolia and the Balkans. Stamboul has its own prestige in •Kurdish, spoken by 1,250,000 people in Turkish lands, is reported on in Chapter V, Literature for Persian Moslems. [82] TURANIAN AND BALKAN MOSLEMS the religious press of Islam, and for about three quarters of a century it has also been busy with a modern literature, largely of journalism and translation or patent imitation of Western models. Since the proclamation of the Constitution in 1908 this activity has been much enhanced, for then a jealous and unintelligent press control was lifted, of the type which had forbidden the entrance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet into the country on the ground that it spoke of killing a king. By 1914 there were twelve Turkish dailies in Constantinople, one of which (the Sabah) had a circulation of 20,000; there were perhaps fifty more journals in the provinces. The thirty Turkish periodicals also published in the capital ranged from religious magazines to caricature, with two illustrated women’s papers edited by women. Although not much new book literature has appeared since the beginning of the war, jour¬ nalistic activity still continues; and the fact of its use for political propaganda of all kinds shows that reading has an effective place in modern Turkish life. The story of Christian literature production, other than Bible translation, is soon told. It began with the close of the Crimean war, when two books of Dr. Pfander and one each by Dr. Koelle and the Rev. R. H. Weakley were published by the short lived Anglican mission in Constantinople, while Dr. George Herrick, in charge of the American Board’s publica¬ tions, began at the same time to issue his first publications in the Turkish language. His output until 1885 was cautious and partly along educational lines. He says that a first primer of 63 pages became the model for school books published by the Turks themselves. From 1885 to 1908 it was impossible to print anything distinctively Christian in Osmanli Turkish, though a physical geography and an astronomy were allowed to pass the censor, and a little book on Christian Manliness, “emasculated” Dr. Herrick tells us, “of everything distinctively Christian,” was printed in 1898 over the protest of one of the Censors that “the book smells of Christianity all through.” With the Constitution came a measure of freedom to print, and Dr. Herrick’s last work in 1911 was The Unique Person [83] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM of Jesus Christ and His Relation to Mankind. “Such a book,” he says, “could not have been issued before 1908.” The situation to-day, as regards either the production or the circulation of Christian literature for Turkish Moslems, is dubious in the extreme; but missionaries still hope against hope that there may be no permanent return to the policy of complete muzzling that prevailed in the past. The available literature is chiefly of small tracts, including translations of Mr. Upson’s Khutbas and Miss Trotter’s parables. “Some of the tracts we have and all of the Nile Mission Press Khutbas may prove to be useful, if there is a favourable change in the political situation,” says the report. Bunyan’s Pilgrim's Progress, the first part of which was translated into Azerbaijani Turkish in Bulgaria, is being completed and pub¬ lished in Osmanli Turkish with illustrations. During the brief period of freedom in Smyrna under the Greek occupa¬ tion, experiments were made there in the publication of a Christian family newspaper, Yildiz in Turkish, and a chil¬ dren’s magazine Demet, both of which were well received; while the vigorous young men’s work in that city resulted in the addition of William James’s Habit and Shailer Mathews on Moral Forces that mill decide the Future. LITERATURE NEEDED “As practically nothing has been done in Turkish,” says the report, “the whole field of literature is before us. Our aim will be to apply Christianity to the vital problems of the present day in Turkey and to give the people a new insight as to the essence and the right solution of those problems.” A scheme of future publications has been prepared by Profes¬ sor Devonian for the Turkish Moslems of to-day, in which is worked out a line of approach ignoring the whole historic controversy of the past, and in great part the historic de¬ velopment and the historic theology of the Church, and plung¬ ing directly into the relation of the Jesus of the Gospels to the questions in the newspapers and magazine articles of to-day. Tracts are proposed examining the nature of a true de- [84] TURANIAN AND BALKAN MOSLEMS mocracy, and pressing home the impossibility of realising political and social ideas except through the principles and the power of Christ. Another proposed series deals with the religious ideas of the Old Testament : “The similarity between the Jewish and the Moslem view of the following topics is evident. We should try to show the development of these ideas in the Old Testament and so to give a new standard for religion : The idea of Revelation The idea of Prophecy The idea of Divine Overruling (Messianic Hope) The idea of Temple and Priesthood The idea of Law The idea of Sacrifice.” In the presentation of the historic Jesus great stress is laid in these proposals, on the relation and attitude which the Jesus revealed in the Gospels compels to questions now filling men’s minds, — His attitude toward national aspirations ; His attitude toward war; His attitude towards aliens. The books suggested for reference are non-technical presentations (the phrase does not necessarily imply ignorance of technique) of Christian philosophy or of the historic Jesus, for modern readers. If the mission publishers of Turkey make this con¬ tribution of modern discipleship to the youth of a modern Moslem world, far more interested in very modern history and economics than in anything that happened before the French Revolution, they may serve other areas where a similar frame of mind prevails. Other classes of Turkish readers needing special provision are : CHILDREN The Turkish report says : “The classes of readers to be reached are in order of importance children, women, men.” It proposes : [853 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM For children: A series of picture books with good stories. Series of cards of various sizes with Scripture verses. A children’s paper — monthly at first perhaps. For adolescents : A series of biographical sketches including such lives as Lincoln, Livingstone, Roosevelt, Grenfell, Garibaldi, Joan of Arc, Augustine, Francis of Assisi. SUFIS Constantinople is one of the great dervish centres of the world, and the publication of the Sufi Journal in Osmanli Turkish shows that the orders had common interests in the Turkish capital which justified special publishing for them as a constituency. THE SHl‘lTES OF TURKEY Perhaps twenty per cent of the Moslem population of Anatolia belongs to the ‘Alevis,^ a despised people who reckon themselves nearer to Christianity than to the Sunni Islam of their conquerors. They are deeply ignorant, but show traces of a remote Christian origin which gives them a special claim on the affectionate care of the Church, and also endows them with a much wider range of contact with Christian teaching than is usual among Moslem peoples. The same Kizilhashis or Shi‘ite Turks appear again in Afghanistan where they are reckoned at 50,000. There they are more progressive and form an important part of the trading community of Kabul. *‘The Turkish Shihtes,” says Miss Jenny de Mayer, *‘can follow somewhat more easily our Christian way of reasoning than the Sunnites.” * See article “The ‘Alevis” by the Rev. S. V. R. Trowbridge. The Moslem World, Vol. IX, No. 3. [86] MOSLEMS IN RUSSIA Scale of Milea 0 lOO 200 soo I- 1 I I I ...l. I atWERAt DRAfTIHC CO. INC.. 0.T. 40* 60* 1 — Baku 2 — Daghestan 3 — Uralsk 4 — Elisavetpol 5 — Terek 6 — Kars 7— Ufa 8 — Erivan 9 — Astrakhan 10 — Orenburg 1 1 — Kazan 12 — Tiflis 13 — Taurida 14 — Batoum I s — Kutais 16 — Samara 17 — Simbirsk 1 8 — Tchernomorsk 19 — Kuban 20 — Perm 21 — Stavropol 22 — Vyatka 23 — Penza 24 — Saratov 25 — Nijnii Novgorod [87] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM II. T atar Russia before the war had more than five million Tatar subjects in the Volga Basin, the Crimea (until the end of the i8th century a purely Tatar khanate), the Caucasus and Siberia, not to mention four millions of Tatar Noghai in Turkestan. The Tatar language is used, too, by 125,000 Moslems in Roumania, and is widely understood in Central Asia and Northwestern Persia. The Tatars of Russia have been the most active and progressive Moslems of Central Asia, and converts won by them to Islam were proud to take the name of Tatar along with their new faith. Ismail Bey Gasprinski, who died in 1913, was among the world leaders of Islam, but he was only the representative of a progressive people. In European Russia, Tatar women took a full part in university life and in the teaching profession. The Moslem press at Kazan and Orenburg may not have been so productive numerically as that of Cairo (though the Revue du Monde Musulman in March 1914 stated its output for one year, according to Russian official figures, to be 631 new Moslem publications), but it v/as more varied and more advanced in its range of thought. Among the periodicals were The Times, The Interpreter, Religion and Life, The Nation, Rights of Life, The White Way (for children). The Teacher, The School, Economics. This output represented a distinct reaction against the Russifying policy of the Govern¬ ment, and a tendency to form a separate national and religious group. The Christian response to all this activity of mind and sentiment was begun in 1857 by the late Professor Ilminski, who gave his life to the introduction of their own vernaculars into the schools which Moslem children attended.® The in¬ struction, the text-books and the Gospel were all to be in the Moslem child’s own tongue, and for this was needed, and indeed grew up, a network of seminaries for teacher-training "See article by Madame Bobrovnikoff. The Moslem World, Vol. I, No. I. [88] TURANIAN AND BALKAN MOSLEMS and a “Translations Committee” to prepare the Christian literature. The scheme had at once the advantage and the disadvan¬ tage of official adoption. Money and men were supplied, many of these being true Christian missionaries. At the same time the whole enterprise took on something of the character of a government activity, with all the dangers therein implied for a spiritual undertaking. It has proved impossible under present conditions to obtain a catalog of the works issued by the Translations Committee in Kazan, but it seems that by the outbreak of the Great War their works had reached about 1000 of various kinds, such as Scripture translations. Church Services, books of prayers, stories, catechisms, doctrine, and direct controversial works. On the latter type. Archbishop Antonius, now a refugee in Serbia, wrote three books, A Conversation of a Christian with a Moslem on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, Why Jesus did not call Himself God, The Moral Idea of Christian Dogmas. Not all of this output was in Tatar — in fact the Translations Committee had begun work in ten Turkish languages or dialects — though its main output was in this, the chief Moslem tongue of the Russian Empire. Even in the dark days of 1918, the Holy Sobor of the Russian Church voted for the establishment of a Supreme Missionary Council,® and though at the time the uppermost thought was probably to combat the spread of other forms of Christian faith and of free thought in Russia, lovers of the Russian Church hope that even yet she may some day be allowed to carry the message of Christ to Russian Moslems for whom she had planned and begun so much. III. Azerbaijani Turki This form of Turkish has never reached the dignity of a strong literary language, but it is an important colloquial (with local variations) in the Caucasus, throughout Azer- * The Constructive Quarterly, Dec., 1918. Hopes for the Orthodox Church of Russia, Leonid Turkevich. [89] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM baijan and the whole of the north of Persia. Persian sub¬ jects whose mother tongue is Turki are generally literate, if literate at all, in Persian; but it is a noteworthy fact, to be remembered by those who have the cause of Christ to forward, that Persian nationalists found it worth while to issue several propaganda newspapers in Turki, as having more appeal in the mother tongue. The chief publication centres for this form of Turki were at Baku and Tiflis, for Azerbaijani Turki takes the leading place among the languages of the 3,500,000 Moslems of various extraction found in the Caucasus. At Baku the humorous weekly Mulla Nasreddin was published, as well as serious religious works, such as a commentary on the Koran with a very close paraphrase of the text itself into Azerbaijani Turki. At Tiflis^ besides newspapers, a woman’s magazine was issued by a woman. This centre has its own importance as one through which pass all the Moslem peoples of Central Asia, on their way to the Mecca pilgrimage. Christian literature in this important vernacular is very scarce. The Pilgrim's Progress was translated and published in Bulgaria, and there are several small tracts from the Amer¬ ican Press at Urumia, whose main output is in Syriac and for Christians. Dr. Potter’s Roots and Branches has been translated from Persian, and there are two stories of the Life of Christ for Children and a book of hymns. Some tracts published by Pastor Avetaranian at Varna, Bulgaria, have also proved effective in Azerbaijan. ‘‘The people show eager¬ ness to read any new literature put into their hands. We be¬ lieve this province should be flooded with literature positively Christian, illustrated by stories, but non-controversial. Whole¬ some literature for young people is greatly needed. There is no missionary set apart for literary work in Azerbaijan.” IV. Sart Turki or Eastern Turki In Russian Turkestan, in cities of ancient fame like Khiva, Bokhara and Samarkhand, Sart is the most important [90] CHMSTIAlSr LITERATURE AND ISLAM Moslem language, especially of the urban centres, and is spoken by about 5,000,000 people. As the railroad crawls on from Krasnovodsk on the Caspian, past Samarkhand, through a region where ruins of Christian churches are still standing,^ and onward almost to the Chinese border, Sart Turki is still heard. In Chinese Turkestan, the Sart number million. Here then is an important Moslem vernacular. Before the war, Russian official figures reckoned Sart as the second Moslem language of the empire in literary productive¬ ness. General literature, books for children and theatrical publications, as well as Moslem religious works were making their appearance in this language. In Chinese Turkestan, and even beyond the borders of China proper, a free translation into Sart of Qisas id Anbiya is popular; but speaking gener¬ ally, as the language progresses eastward its literary produc¬ tiveness dwindles. The Sarts of Chinese Turkestan, where all newspapers are forbidden by the State, are a primitive people. Unused to the printing press, they prefer literature mimeo¬ graphed in the written character, and consequently circulated only in very small quantities. Such literature is described as consisting of “Mohammedan myths.” Before the war a good deal of printed literature was brought from Russia, but im- p.^rtation now has ceased. Chinese Moslem literature comes in from the east, however, and books and tracts of the Chinese Young Men’s Moslem Association issued in far-away Shanghai circulate in Turkestan. The New Testament in Kashgar Turki was translated by the Rev. J. Avetaranian and printed at Philippopolis, Bulgaria, in 1914. In addition to this work tiny beginnings in Sart Christian literature have been made at two points in the immense area over which this language is found. In Russian Turkestan, Miss Jenny de Mayer has made a beginning in the distribution of tracts translated under her own superintendence and printed at Beirut. In Chinese Turkestan, the Swedish Mission which began by having three tracts printed in Constantinople, set up first ’ These extend as far north as Auli Ata more than a hundred miles beyond Tashkend. [92] TURANIAN AND BALKAN MOSLEMS a small mimeograph machine, and next a printing press in Kashgar. This is the only printing press in a country which, according to the Edinburgh Conference Report of 1910, has “an area of nearly 2,700,000 square miles, thirteen times the size of France, and over twice as large as all of the United States east of the Mississippi River.” The S..edish Mission with the co-operation of the China Inland Mission at Tihunfu in translation of some of the books or tracts, has now issued Genesis and Samuel, Job and Psalms; books which were re¬ ceived doubtfully at first : “Bismillah yok,” the people said, missing the ordinary Moslem phrase of introduction. This press has also produced about seventeen tracts, one of which. Miss Trotter’s parable of The Nightingale, became popular in the bazaars of Turkestan. A Bible History, a Life of Abraham, one or two readers and three school books on geog¬ raphy, biology and arithmetic have been issued, with two lan¬ guage study books, a hymnbook and a tear-off calendar show¬ ing Gregorian, Greek and Moslem dates. The Pilgrim's Progress is now in process of translation by the China Inland Mission, and special translations of St. Mark (in easy Turki) and the Acts made by that mission are being printed in Shanghai. These are the beginnings of a Christian literature. In 1915, plans were reported for a bi-monthly magazine with simple news items and gospel teaching. Later reports, however, seem to indicate that this proved impossible, for the Chinese Government, embarrassed by the control of a province of semi-nomads, comparatively new in the Empire ® and eight months journey from Peking, has forbidden the circulation of newspapers in its distant domain. The report from China says : “The Rev. G. W. Hunter, who is working in the province of Sin Kiang, which borders on Tibet, Afghanistan and Russia, says that no native newspaper is allowed to be printed in the province, and all newspapers in the native language coming in from other provinces are confiscated in the Post Office. The Governor of the province is anti-Christian and * The tribes of Chinese Turkestan submitted tb China 1757-60. [93] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM anti-progressive and has given orders to confiscate literature issued from the Kashgar mission press when it passes through the post. This is a phase that we have passed through in China proper and such action would only be possible in an outlying dependency such as Chinese Turkestan. Doubtless it will pass away there as it has done elsewhere.’’ Khirgiz and Qazaq. The Khirgiz and Qazaq are nomads of such closely kindred languages that each can read literature in the other’s tongue. These languages are not spoken by very great numbers, but they are found over an enormous area. The Qazaq roam as far west as Orenburg and the Caspian and as far east as Chinese Turkestan where they are highlanders. The Khirgiz are, like the Qazaq, nomads who eat horses and smoke bhang. They were formerly found chie’fly in Russian Asia, but since the Bolshevik dominion have migrated in considerable numbers into the mountains round Kashgar. These languages though without any great literary centre have their importance in the fact that the Khirgiz and the Qazaq are the most open-minded of all the Moslem peoples of Central Asia. They are rather indifferent neophytes in the world of Islam. Until a hundred years ago the Khirgiz were Lamaites. They have bowed to Islam, but their roaming way of living makes it easy to them to drop irksome regulations. It is neces¬ sary for the religious authorities sometimes to visit their market-places with whips to chastise unveiled women. There is no Christian literature available for these people except portions of the Scriptures. St. Mark, St. Matthew and Acts, issued in Qazaq by the China Inland Mission, were very well received in the tents of both Qazaq and Khirgiz who show much open mindedness. During a recent journey 129 of these booklets were readily sold, and the head of a Qazaq tribe is said to be enquiring into the nature of Christianity. But nothing more has been done. The only mission that undertook special work among these nomads was that of the German Mennonites in Russian Turkestan, where all organ¬ ised Christian mission work is now at a standstill. Through [94] TURANIAN AND BALKAN MOSLEMS Chinese Turkestan it seems that these peoples might yet be reached. These then, disregarding many lesser languages or local dialects, are the main tongues that must speak for Christ if we would carry His messages to the Moslem World of Cen¬ tral Asia. V. Moslems of the Balkans A Christian literature in the Turkish languages must not ignore the Moslem populations of the Balkan countries, for most of whom, with the exception of the Albanians and the Pomaks of Bulgaria, Osmanli Turkish is the language of home and of religion, though the language of the state in which they live will be used for other relationships of life. Everywhere in these countries the Moslem population lags heavily behind the Christian in literacy, though reaching a high standard as compared with wholly Moslem lands. The following table gives the numbers : Per cent Country No. of Moslems Per cent, of Pop. Language & No. Speaking Literate Moslems Others Roumania 210,000 306 Turkish Tatar 95,000 125,000 20 90 Bulgaria 643,000 13.88 Turkish Bulgarian 443,000 200,000 30 90 Yugo-Slavia 1,600,000 24.15 Turkish Serbian Albanian 1,000,000 500,000 40,000 15 60 Greece 500,000 12.00 Turkish 30 90 Albania 900,000 55.00 Albanian 20 40 In these lands of blood and tears, the Church has not yet set out to win the Moslem minorities, although, as in the case of the Bulgarian Pomaks, she has sometimes tried to force them back to the faith from which they were forcibly per¬ verted 500 years ago. The whole story of religion in the Balkan lands is one of tragic harshness. The Serbo-Croatian [95] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Moslems of Jugo-Slavia whose Begs represent the old Bosnian feudal nobility, threw in their lot with Islam because, as Manichsean heretics, life was made too hard for them by the persecutions of Catholic dynasts. Where the Turks held sway in the past, the same heavy government restrictions as in Turkey proper were placed on any effort to publish literature for these Moslems of Europe. To-day, with a new regime in some of these countries, has come to the Church an oppor¬ tunity beyond any she has known for 500 years. An inter¬ esting plea was made by the Rev. C. T. Erickson for the con¬ sideration of Albania as the key to the Moslem world. He speaks of the dominant, masterful character of the Albanian Moslems and of the many high offices held by them through¬ out Turkish lands, and appeals for the concentration of mis¬ sionary effort on so forceful a people.^ In Greece, Serbia and Roumania no Christian literature exists for the Moslem population; nor, it should be noted, have these a distinctive literature of their own. The Moslems of these regions all look to Constantinople for books and periodicals. The scheme of publishing adopted in Osmanli Turkish for Turkish Moslems will serve the Turkish-speaking Moslems of the Balkan lands, if satisfactory co-operation can be arranged. It is interesting to note that a translation of the Koran into Greek has recently appeared. In Bulgaria, where 400,000 Moslems speak Turkish, but 200,000 Pomaks only know Bulgarian, one Danish mission¬ ary is at work among the Moslems. He has already issued a few tracts and hopes to enlarge his work from year to year. Many of his wants can be supplied from Constantinople, where also some of the works of a former missionary in Bulgaria have been printed. This was the late Rev. Johannes Aveta- ranian, himself a converted Turk, who struggled for many years alone in this work. He made much acquaintance among the Turkish officers held as prisoners of war in Bulgaria in 1913 and wrote: “The Lord helped me to prepare two important tracts for them. One of them taught that there is no salvation without • The Moslem World, April, 1914. [96] I CCNEBAt DWAFTIMG CO. IWC. W.Y. 20“ 24“ 28* [97] TURANIAN AND BALKAN MOSLEMS Christ, and without Christianity no real progress for the Turk¬ ish race. The other is the translation of Gossner’s Book of the Heart with ten pictures.” He it was also who translated The Pilgrim^ s Progress into Azerbaijani Turki and wrote The Thirty -two Witnesses and a translation of the New Testament in Kashgar Turki. He also started and conducted for a time a Turkish Christian paper, Gunesh or Khurshid. Although much of his solitary effort may seem fruitless, his view that Bulgaria is a strategic point from which to work for Turkish-speaking Moslems may yet prove to have significance in these days, when the greater part of Turan is almost as much shut off from missionary effort as was China, when Morrison sat down upon her door¬ step with his dictionary and his unconquerable faith in the triumph of Christ. [98] Chapter V, CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR PERSIAN- READING MOSLEMS Oh Persians of the Shiah sect, efither you believe or you do not believe. But those who do believe, let them give ear and hear what I am saying. How unworthy are those who confess that Islam is 'a religious system both spiritual and worldly, but who forget that a tree must be known by its fruits. While, as you say, this religion has the happiness of this world to offer as well as the coming world, yet in every point all Moslems over the world are low, poor, unclean, without civilisation, foolish, ignorant and in general they ore two hundred years behind American and European Christians and even behind the Zoroastrians. If it were only in some places that we found Islam in this condition we might attribute the results to some other reason but where we find Islam every¬ where in the same condition we can see no other reason but Islam itself. — The newspaper Asad, Tabriz, January i, 1922. About eight and a half million Moslems in Persia speak the Persian language, but its importance is not to be judged by the numerical strength or political prestige of the strug¬ gling Persia of to-day. This language of the poets, once the court language of half Asia, has an influence far beyond the Shah’s forlorn domains. “Because of the large Persian population of the east Arabian littoral we should co-operate in the distribution of all Persian Christian literature,” says the report from Arabia. “Written Arabic and Persian are in universal use amongst [99] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM mullahs and Moslem travellers from Central Asia,’^ says the Chinese report. In Szechuan, Persian is taught by the pupils of a famous scholar, named Ho Yiu Liang of the Kiang Nan Mosque. In Malaysia, says the report, “The general literature produced in the last three hundred years, contains very few original works; almost everything has been translated from the Arabic or Persian.” In North India Persian has not been altogether ousted by the newer prestige of Urdu as a Moslem literary tongue. In Lucknow Shi‘ah literature is published in diglot Persian and Urdu. The well-known Delhi tetraglot Koran has Per¬ sian for one of its tongues. Kashmir, with no literature of her own, reads Persian or Urdu. Beloochistan, off the beaten track and somewhat outside the fierce currents of political thought in India, looks chiefly to Persia for her literature, and is more closely connected with her than before by the military railroad pushed up to the Persian frontier. In new Afghanistan the greater part of the new literature is in the Persian tongue. This immense prestige looks back to mediaeval days, but Persia is not without a modern literature. Her first printing press was set up at the instigation of ‘Abbas Mirza (whom Henry Martyn called “the wisest of the princes”) in the year i8i6 or thereabouts. She has thus had a century of printing and has discovered the use of the press in all kinds of political propaganda. She is still the land of poetry. “Per¬ sians as a rule seem satisfied with reading their poets,” one missionary says: “The expression of Persian life normally is through its poetry, and there is arising a school of nationalist, patriotic, anti-obscurantist poets. These worship the poets of nationality (e.g., Firdousi, whose Shahnama, an immense volume, is handed down in many houses from father to son) as against the poets of mysticism. The new anti-mystical bias has, however, not yet reached the peasant population. The argument of such poetry is that the followers of all re¬ ligions are fools together, all that is worth worshipping is the new Persianism (Iran).” Another strain in modem Persian literature comes (by a [lOO] PERSIAN-READING MOSLEMS reversal of the usual order of transmission) from the Turkish. A number of Turkish plays written under French influence have been translated into Persian. These are not, however, the dramas that move the heart of Persia; that is still true to the Ta'da plays produced in the sacred month. They are one of the welding forces of the Shi‘a world. With the exception of a translation of Robinson Crusoe and of a few of Dumas’ stories and JSsop's Fables there is little published fiction of modern days. This is not to say that the land is storyless, for story-tellers go round the vil¬ lages and gather the people round them for tales, often vilely obscene. I. Existent Christian Literature The first Christian press was introduced by the American Mission at Urumia in Azerbaijan nearly eighty years ago and Robert Bruce’s translational work at Julfa, Isfahan, dates from 1869. These two sources, the American Mission in the North and the C.M.S. in the South have through many vicissitudes produced a trickle of Persian Christian literature. They are still at the stage when the initiative comes from the foreigner and the small Persian church has not yet under¬ taken responsibility except of translation. The alumnae of the American Girls’ School at Teheran are, however, editing and publishing their own women’s paper ' Alam-i-N isvan. This avoids religious questions but is high in tone. There was an unsuccessful effort on the part of the mullahs to suppress another women’s paper, Zaban-i-Zanan, edited by a Bahai lady in Isfahan. The paper survived the mullahs but was suppressed by the Teheran government for being strongly political and anti-British. It revived again in 1921. Special Apologetic : The only religious theme upon which Persian Christian literature is well supplied is that of the older Moslem controversy. Here Dr. Tisdall’s pen has pro¬ duced no less than nine original works. One {The Sources of Islam) has been translated into Arabic, Urdu, etc. [lOl] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Pfander’s Mizanal-Haqq, Tanq-al-Haydt and Miftdh-aU Asrar were printed in Persian, in India, and are sometimes used in Persia though occasionally suppressed by officials. Some of the references to Islamic personages have proved offensive, and although these works are much sought after by Persians, their circulation is not without danger. Dr. Potter’s Roots and Branches is among the important contributions in Persia to this field of literature, to which the latest addition is a Persian translation of Muir’s Mohammed and Islam. Tracts : There are a certain number of usable tracts. Dr. Tisdall translated a few by A. L. O. E. Miss Aidin pre¬ pared one recently on The New Birth. Bishop Stileman wrote one on the story of a Persian Martyr, Mr. Nurollah of the London Jews Society printed sixteen picture leaflets. The Athanasian Creed is (in tract form) spoken of appreciatively as giving an account of the doctrine of the Trinity which appeals to Persian readers. But in general there is dissatis¬ faction with the meagreness of the tract literature so far pro¬ duced, and a sense that it is not very keenly read and perhaps does not make quite the most useful type of appeal to the Persian mind. Devotional: The only other type of good literature of which there is a moderate supply is the devotional. Besides the Anglican Prayer Book there is James McConkey’s book on Prayer and his Threefold Secret of the Holy Spirit , trans¬ lated by Dr. Potter of the American Mission; a book of sim¬ ple family prayers compiled by Dr. Stuart and printed at Isfahan, and a small manual of simple prayers for women and children and the uneducated generally, compiled by the late Miss Mary Bird. There has been some development along the lines of hymn production in the land of the poets. Gospel Songs by Kashi Moshi of Urumia are very popular; the tunes being largely native are of great appeal. Christian Spiritual Songs (about seventy-five hymns compiled by Dr. Emmeline Stuart from various Persian and English writers) is the hymn book used by the Anglican Church, while Spiritual Songs with 1 102] PERSIAN-READING MOSLEMS about 145 hymns by various American missionaries is pub¬ lished at Teheran for the use of the Presbyterian Church. It contains some poetical paraphrases of Scripture passages. The Persian Christians of Teheran have a hymnbook committee which has gone over existing hymn books and revised and selected hymns for inclusion in a new book to have also a number of original hymns. The hymn literature is now in a state of transition from foreign to Persian work, and is stead¬ ily improving. Biblical Literature is almost non-existent but a Bible Dic¬ tionary has just been completed by the Rev. James Hawkes. There are simple Bible Histories by Dr. Bruce, and an Index of the History of Jesus, by J. Davidson Frame. Character Building. Nothing has been prepared especially for Persian Christians along these lines. Literature for Children is practically non-existent. A child’s catechism translated by the Rev. J. L. Potter has proved popular and a mujtahid in Resht has prepared an imitation for use with Moslem children. The only story outside The Pil¬ grim's Progress and one or two allegorical tracts is a transla¬ tion of Christie's Old Organ in Judseo-Persian. 11. Literature Needed ‘‘Christian Books are needed for all classes, but we believe that children and persons of meagre education are the most important. They form fifty per cent of the reading popula¬ tion. The people are waking up to the value of an education and newspapers. A man who wants to learn and who enjoys reading has not enough of modern literature to keep him satis¬ fied. We can get a hearing because of the hunger for all literature. Newspapers bringing information of outside ideals and life will be eagerly read. We should have a Christian newspaper. The literature in Persian should start with win¬ ning the Moslem and should take him through to a full knowl¬ edge of Christian life and ideals. All literature for Chris¬ tians should be planned for the man who has come out of [103] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Islam. The three chief purposes of Christian literature in Persia will be, (a) apologetic, along the lines of the Moslem controversy; this is fairly well provided for, (b) literature for development of character; this is an immediate necessity, (c) dogmatic training: this is a less immediate need. A doctor writes, “We have no Bible commentary in Per¬ sia worth mentioning, no scientific books bearing on Scripture truth, and hardly any good natural history or nature works. That is an anomaly when one considers the time we have been in the country.” BOOKS URGENTLY NEEDED The report emphasizes the following types : Stories: Bible Stories. Stories to teach moral truth. True stories of child life. Under this heading individual missionaries suggest a whole story literature like the work of A.L.O.E. or Mrs. Ewing, or R.T.S. and S.P.C.K. stories, or tales of the type of John Halifax Gentleman and Uncle Tom's Cabin. “We are constantly faced with the problem of having nothing beyond the Bible, Hymn Book, Pil grim's Progress and tracts to put into the hands of converts or boys and girls passing through our schools.” Biography : This line is emphasized as among the most important. Individual missionaries suggest lives of inventors, of pioneer missionaries or of social reformers. Bible Studies and Helps to the Devotional Life: Suggestions are as follows : Literature to create a desire to read the Scriptures is needed. A small commentary and concordance is sorely needed. Oxford Helps would be very useful. Also simple studies on single books of the New Testament and on subjects like Prayer, Baptism, Holy Communion. Pierson’s Many Infallible Proofs if well translated ought to be very valuable. “Almost any simple exposition on Christianity applied to life. We have nothing to help our converts, evangelists or pastors to self -development in Christian life.” [104] PERSIAN-READING MOSLEMS Social Questions: ‘^Those who employ and encourage child labour and young motherhood are sometimes well off and educated. Really attractive books with illustrations show¬ ing young children at work and ill effects, might be extremely helpful. And books telling of the happy free childhood of Christian lands might be helpful to parents. Such subjects would have to be very carefully approached. Good works are wanted on medicine, surgery, physiology, chemistry, farming, and physics, all from the Christian standpoint. A medical work against the prevailing opium habit should be produced.” SUGGESTION Dr. Stanton points out that much Christian literature produced in Urdu might be translated into Persian. In con¬ sidering the translatableness of works in other languages the question at once arises as to how far works produced for Sunnis could be used in the home of the Shi‘ahs. Missionary opinion seems to be that, with careful elimination of obnoxious references and the name of ‘Omar, the same works might be used. THE BAHAIS This important sect of whom there are about 100,000 in the country, publishes much of its literature outside of Persia. Their magazine The Star of the East has however a Persian edition. Their sacred book the Beyan ^ is translated into French. An American Bahai newspaper and the presence of American Bahaism in Teheran give the impression in Persia that Bahaism is successful abroad. In western Turkestan there are numerous Bahai propagandists, execrated by Sunni and Shi’ah alike. At Kum a Bible Society colpor¬ teur reports, “Was beaten thrice as the people took me for a Bahai.” Only two Christian tracts in Persia are addressed to the Bahais, 'Abdul Masih's Loving Letter of Advice to the Seekers after Truth, written by Dr. Tisdall during the days of their persecution, and The Return of His Excellency, ‘Le Beyan Persan, Traduit par M. Nicolas, Paris, Geuthner. [105] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Christ, the Son of God, by the late Dr. Carless. “Anti-Chris¬ tian Bahai literature in Persian is serious enough to challenge us to furnish an adequate supply of positive Christian litera¬ ture for the newly awakened or half-awakened reading public in Persia.” 111. Language Groups other than Persian Besides her pure Persian population, Persia has perhaps two and a half million subjects in the north whose language is Azerbaijani Turkish (see chapter IV, Literature for Tura¬ nian Moslems). She also has some 200,000 Kashgais who claim descent from the Moghuls of Delhi but speak a Turkish dialect; their women for the most part not understanding Per¬ sian. They ask for missionaries, as do also the Bakhtiaris or nomad Lars who present another language variation, this time based on Persian but with many different words and pro¬ nunciations. Their Islam seems only skin deep. Another language group in Persia and one of greater importance is found in Kurdistan. THE KURDS The Kurdish language from an old Iranian source is gen¬ erally written in the Arabic alphabet. Like many mountain tongues it has strong dialectic changes, but Kurmanji, the most important of these dialects, is spoken by about two mil¬ lion people. Kurdistan is a great tribal domain reaching from Tiflis in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south. The northern Kurds are dark, fierce men and Sunnis. The south¬ ern are fairer, finer grained and Shi^ahs, who take kindly to Persian or Arabic education. The fact that among the Kurds the two sects intermarry leads to a certain open-mindedness among these highlanders who have never been really subdued by an outside power. The Kurds have no written literature but a great store of oral material for literature. “For many years the American Congregational mission¬ aries from their stations in Turkey, and the American Pres- [106] PERSIAN-READING MOSLEMS byterian missionaries from their stations in Persia and in connection with their work among the mountain Nestor ians, have been related to the Kurdish problem, and some ten or fifteen years ago the Norwegian Lutherans of America and the Hermannsburgers of Hanover undertook work among the Kurds at Soujbulak in Persia, which in the interests of comity was relinquished to them by the American Presbyterian Mis¬ sion. Various attempts have been made to translate the New Testament into Kurdish dialects. One translation, by a Per¬ sian convert afterwards martyred, proved too Persian to be acceptable. A translation of St. Luke by a Kurd into the southern dialect was lost during the war, when the translator was crossing a river in flight from the Russians. The Lutheran Mission now has the whole New Testament in the central dialect. Returning after the war. Pastor O. L. Possum took with him, in Kurdish, printed from plates of his own writing, a Practical Kurdish Grammar, a Hymnary with lOO hymns, Luther’s smaller Catechism, the Lutheran Liturgy, and a number of tracts. The late Mr. G. 1. Knapp of Harpoot suggested that for the northern Kurds rhymed literature would be more effective than anything else, especially a rhymed version of the Psalms. AFGHANISTAN Afghanistan is divided in her allegiance between the Per¬ sian and Pushtu languages, but her new awakening favours Persian as the more progressive and literary tongue. On the question of Persian versus Pushtu in Afghanistan the martyred missionary, Isador Loewenthal, wrote (1850 at Peshawar) : ^ ^‘Inquiries were made as to which version (of the Scrip¬ tures) would be most useful, and it was considered that the Persian Scriptures were most in demand, and the Pushtu was very little read. This is erroneous. The existence of an extensive vernacular literature, consisting not only of original compositions, but also of numerous translations of various ^ See 23rd Annual Report, Ludhiana Mission, page 46. [107] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM popular Persian and Arabic authors, betoken a taste for read¬ ing the vernacular/^ In an article on the new press of Afghanistan The Times of London says: “Two nationalist journals, the Amdn-i-Afghan of Kabul and the Ittihdd-i-Mashriqi of Jalalabad aim at reflecting the national enlightenment. Both journals are published in Per¬ sian and claim to be unofficial, though the inspiration and control of the Amir’s government are obvious as is the Bolshe¬ vist hand behind it.” Of the literature springing up to voice the new aspirations The Times says, “The Moral Reader vein is very engaging. The commonest sentiments are such as. “Be firm in adopting good habits and shunning bad ones. If in your youth you do good, in your old age you will not be sorry for your misdeeds.” So the Press has entered the long closed kingdom, Moslem to a man, and so fanatically orthodox that the Hazaras of Shi^ah faith are steadily persecuted, while Dr. T. L. Pennell wrote in 1912 of the stoning of one of the most distinguished Mullahs of Kabul for joining the Ahmadiya sect. The fact that the new awakening is turning largely to Persia for literature gives the missionaries in Khorassan a unique opportunity for the circulation of Persian Christian books. The main trade routes in N. E. Persia were so improved by British Indian troops during the war period as to render contacts easier. Automobiles can now be used. From the American Mission hospital in Meshed, in one year, 1791 copies of Scripture were sold to visiting merchants from Afghanistan, who took them to sell beyond the borders. Dr. Robert Speer writes as follows of the present opportunity in Meshed, the only mission station in a district as large as France : “One of the most appealing groups of people whom we met anywhere was the Christian Church in Meshed, made up wholly of converts from Islam, gathered in the most sacred shrine-city in Persia, and on the very borders of Afghanistan. Some of them were from Afghanistan and Turkestan. From [108] PERSIAN-READING MOSLEMS that one station the gospel was going out in every direction, east and north as well as south and west.” SUMMARY The Persian language with all its immense prestige pre¬ sents one of the greatest opportunities before the literature missionary. Except in controversial works the beginnings made are very small. The immense difficulties of travel in Persia are reflected in the disconnected character of the work done so far. Small as the total output is, the missionaries do not find it all ready to their hand. The American Press at Urumia (now destroyed) has been the greatest Christian literature producer in Persia but its work has been largely in Syriac. The Henry Martyn Press at Isfahan (closed since the war but now reopening) comes second. Other work has been printed by the S.P.C.K., London, and the Punjab Religious Book Society, Lahore. Yet more has been printed indi¬ vidually by job printers in Persian cities The Punjab Re¬ ligious Book and Tract Society, Lahore, is in position to supply such literature, provided money is on hand for the purpose. (1) The first desideratum seems to be that an inter¬ mission literature committee should take rank as an official body and unify the work to the extent that what is done in one station shall be known and available for all. (2) The American Presbyterian Mission in the north has set apart workers for literature. The Church Missionary Society in the south should be urged to staff its mission strongly enough to allow of the setting apart of at least one man or woman for such work. (3) Persian authorship has not yet been enlisted, it would seem, though the Persian hymnbook committee is making its own experiments. During the years While Persian author¬ ship is being sought out in the Christian church, it may be possible, as Dr. Stanton suggests, for the committee to arrange for translations from Urdu or Arabic Christian books or from [109] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM the basic manuscripts in English or French proposed by this survey. (See chapter XL) (4) In spite of the immense difficulties of circulation there seems a real opportunity for a Christian newspaper or magazine in Persia. If the suggestion of a central press bureau be followed up, part of the task of supplying material for such a paper might be lifted from the Persian editors. (See chapter XIV.) (5) The question of circulation is absolutely vital. The Bible Society has proved colportage thoroughly possible to men who will take a drubbing. Persia has as yet no organisa¬ tion for circulating Christian literature other than Bible So¬ ciety colportage. Dr. Robert Speer throws down a challenge. ^‘Every¬ where,” he says, in reference to his recent Persian journey, “there was a call for suitable Christian literature. We urge that some of the missionaries or Persian Christians best adapted for such service should give some of their time to preparing Christian leaflets which could be used to meet a demand that does not need to be created because it already exists. Preachers and colporteurs ought to go out in this time of opportunity and unprecedented friendliness in Persia, to preach Christ everywhere.” [no] Chapter VI CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR INDIAN MOSLEMS When once illiteracy becomes the exception in¬ stead of the rule how marvellous will he the change! On the material side the whole making of the ma¬ chinery of civilisation will be greatly facilitated. On the intellectual side the peasant will pass into a world of new interest. . . . If you create a reading public it is but reason to provide it with something good to read. Well-edited, interesting well-illus¬ trated papers to circulate through each of the great regions of the country would be only a. logical corollary to the whole theory of popular education. — William Archer, in '‘India and the Future,” P- 293- That most readable and at the same time statesmanlike report by the Rev. A. C. Clayton, called “Christian Literature in India,” gives in Ii6 pages the result of a recent survey covering all the principal languages of India. This report of the survey was followed by a little blue pamphlet, the im¬ portance of which must on no account be estimated by its size, prepared by fourteen delegates from all India who had travelled thirty thousand miles in order to scrutinise the re¬ port, and to draw up for India a national “Programme of Advance.” The programme so drawn up contains in its thirty-six pages “a statement of the minimum needs” of Christian literature in India and Ceylon, both as regards men and women set apart for literary service, and as regards annual money grants for publication in various languages. And it is more than [III] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM a statement of need; it is a real programme for action, endorsed and adopted by the National Missionary Council for India. Why then should a second survey, dealing as it does with the whole Moslem world, and therefore in less detail with India, venture to include a chapter on an area for which so much expert planning has been done ? The answer lies in the position of the Indian Moslems, and in the fact that the programme undertaken is the barest of bare minimums. India has more Moslems than any purely Moslem land, but she is not a Moslem country. In many of her language groups Moslems form a minority section. They use no less than eighteen of the principal languages and dialects of India and Ceylon. But all experience goes to show that work for Moslems is a specialised work. Where one man is set to develop Christian literature in some Indian language, like Gujerati or Burmese (and the setting apart of even one man is generally a very recent step), it is too much to expect him to have a specialist’s skill in preparing literature for the Moslem minority, in addition to caring for all other Christian literary needs. If India’s 68,000,000 Moslems are to be served, the *‘Pro- gramme of Advance” must be supplemented by the provision of at least one central worker who can co-ordinate the various efforts made for Moslems, facilitate exchange of material between different language areas, and promote new work and thought on their behalf. The present survey, looking to the needs of these 68,000,000, finds many tasks of the first urgency called for on their behalf, that could not receive their full emphasis in the report of a survey covering the whole multitudinous life of India. The chief languages to be used in literature for Moslems are ranged by the report of the survey, in their probable order of evangelistic importance as follows : Urdu Mussulman! Bengali Mussulman! Punjabi (i.e., in Urdu letters) English [112] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Sindhi Hindi Kashmiri Pushtu Beluchi Persian In addition to these are Sinhalese, Burmese, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujerati, Kanarese, Tamil, Marathi, all with Moslem minorities to serve. The Maidive Islands also, with a language all their own, have a wholly Moslem population of 70,000 for whom nothing has been provided, although a Sinhalese lady has attempted to reach the educated classes with Arabic Christian literature from Cairo. Probably the simplest arrangement of this chapter will be a rapid survey of the existent literature for Moslems and the outstanding needs in the different languages successively, fol¬ lowed by a short summary gathering up what the survey has to tell of needs common to all or most of the languages con¬ cerned. It must be remembered that the content of a litera¬ ture prepared by missionaries to Moslems will vary according to the extent of the other Christian literature provided in the language. In languages where the missionary to Moslems is the only Christian producer, he is at present responsible for all the literature needed, whether for ignorant or hostile Moslems, for enquirers, for converts or for Christian homes. In such cases his output will tend to have a much wider scope than in languages like Chinese or Tamil, where a general Christian literature is coming into being through other Chris¬ tian work, and where the missionary to Moslems can devote himself to the special apologetics needed by his people. I. U rdu Urdu (or Hindustani), says the Indian report, ‘‘may be considered the lingua franca of the Moslem population. There are many thousands whose mother-tongue is one of the various [1 14] - ; 'ii>*^ti-}i'.'M ’•♦>5S>>-< . liiiili!! !ss;^fe:s5i?!.";i;fi‘'*-"*”'"."*=' •••'t .-i-'-"- '. ■■'• .. I :- * splsfe <\«*>>S>>:;:- W0M Courtesy of the Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church PASTOR, POET AND SCHOLAR Rev. I. D. Shahbaz, D.D., who died in 1921, was a leading pastor in the Punjab. He translated the Psalter in Punjabi and Urdu verse. ■ , ■> ^’1 ■ ' nil ' V - V ■' y. \ c fv . \ ■ J ^ * <^1 INDIAN MOSLEMS vernaculars who yet are able to use Urdu. Especially is this true of the trading classes who travel about India, or who come in contact with people from all parts of the country. Urdu is the trade language of India for the Moslem, as it is the literary language, and one of the court languages of the day. This prestige is the growth of a century. In the days of Carey and Henry Martyn, Persian held much the position that Urdu holds to-day; and Urdu, *the camp language’ of Moslem invaders, was not much used for polite scholarship or court etiquette. In the recently founded Moslem Osmanieh University of Hyderabad, Deccan, all subjects are taught in Urdu, and books have been translated from English for use in all the courses up to the honours course for the M.A. degree. Urdu must be reckoned as one of the modern learned languages of Islam. It is fairly generally true that a Moslem whose mother tongue is Urdu will not be able to speak any other language, while a literate Moslem of another vernacular will know more or less Urdu. It is the language of the Moslems of the United provinces and of most of the Punjab, especially in the cities. Here the Urdu-speaking population is about 17,000,000, and to these must be added Moslems throughout the whole Indian Empire, with the possible excep¬ tion of Eastern Bengal, for whom Urdu is a frequent second language. The missionary to Moslems in all parts of India finds frequent opportunity for the use of Urdu, whether in speech or literature.” Lahore is the storm centre for Urdu literature, a city at once reflecting and influencing the sentiments of the greatest Moslem province of the Empire. Here is the publication centre of what was for long the premier Moslem religious book society of India, the Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam, whose tract and book depot has connections throughout all India. And here too is a centre of Christian publication.^ Other centres of Moslem publishing activitiy in the Punjab and United Provinces are as follows: (those marked with an asterisk have also a Christian press or publishing society) ^The Punjab Religious Book Society has its headquarters in Lahore and there is a branch of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. [115] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Qadian, Amritsar, Rawalpindi, Bahavadir, Ludhiana*, Aligarh, Lucknow*, Cawnpore, Agra*, Allahabad*, Meerut, Saharmapur, Bareilly, Deoband, Rampur, Azamgarh, Jaun- pore Bijnor and Moradabad. EXISTENT CHRISTIAN LITERATURE While Urdu has a rich Christian literature as compared with most of the languages dealt with in the survey, and has commanded the service of names like Imad-ud-Din, Weit- brecht, Safdar ‘Ali, E. M. Wherry, Ahmad Shah and many others, it yet presents a great field for endeavour. Much of the literature already produced is for other than Moslem readers, and although most of the outstanding lines of literature have been touched upon, it is obvious that the touch has often been of the very slightest. The work done is noted as ‘‘poor” or “scanty” or “meagre” under such heads as commentaries for Moslems, Bible histories, books about missions, Christian ethics, books for teachers, books on eco¬ nomic and political science and social service and reform, biography, history and books for home reading, such as works on nature and popular fiction and general instructive reading. On the pictorial side the literature still needs development and this is a matter of some moment when the illiterate or only just literate multitudes or the little children are taken into account. Along four lines the supply is described as “good,” viz.. Lives and Studies of Christ, Pastoral Theology, Church His¬ tory, Works on Prayer. Yet the most numerous class of these has only 25 titles, some of them representing very slight publications; and under “Lives of Christ” the need is felt of something yet simpler than any so far produced, while the suggestion is made that in re-printing Miss Marston’s useful Life of Christ in Urdu, it should be brought closer to the spirit of the language and of the people by printing a gazal (hymn) at the end of each section of the text. In Church History, Urdu has done what other languages [116] INDIAN MOSLEMS reporting in the survey have failed to do. It has put Eastern Christians into possession of some of the important source- books for such history, by the translation of some of the earliest Christian literature : Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Ignatius, the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hennas, the fragments of Papias, and the Epistle to Diognetns can all be read in Urdu. In apologetics for Moslems the works available are de¬ scribed as “numerous but in some cases faulty,” “occasionally marred by language calculated to alienate the Moslem reader.” F. W. Western, in drawing up the catalogue of Urdu Chris¬ tian literature, remarks on the need, in apologetics, for meeting the new claims of modern Islam. Both branches of the Ahmadiya movement, as well as many Moslem scholars of rationalising tendency are active in Urdu, and as Dr. E. M. Wherry pertinently notes, the champions of Islam are now largely to be found in the heterodox Ahmadiya sect. Whether or no this sect can be regarded as truly Moslem, it certainly is anti-Christian and constitutes a challenge to those who would see Christ vindicated. LITERATURE NEEDED The following types of book are among those noted as needs, and most of them as “urgent needs,” in Urdu. The bulk of these desiderata might be set down bodily under the other languages of Indian Moslems also. We give them more fully under this, the premier Moslem tongue of India, as an example of what is desired by missionaries who meet India’s Moslem problem where it is acutest. The need of apologetics for the various modernist sects has already been referred to. Commentaries and Bible Histories: (Lives of Christ have already been referred to.) “The very serious lack of commentaries ^ is being steadily made up in the case of ^ The reason for the paucity of commentaries in Urdu is due to the unsettled state of the Urdu version of the Bible. Old commentaries by Owen on Isaiah and the Psalms and Scott’s commentary on the New Testa¬ ment are based upon a version now quite antiquated. The same is true of concordances. — E. M. Wherry. [117] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM the books of the New Testament by the excellent Indian Church Commentary Series/^ But these do not cater for the peculiar needs of Moslem readers. “Commentaries, especially of the Gospel, should be prepared especially for Moslems, keeping in mind their peculiar difficulties.’^ “There is also need for a book on the progress of teaching from Moses to Jesus, and for Lives of the Old Testament Prophets, Studies in the Teaching of the Prophets of the Old Testament, and Lives of the Apostles.” Methods of Work and Instruction Books: The fol¬ lowing are suggested : Advice for ministers on how to deal with enquirers, with young converts. Methods of evangelistic work in towns, in the country. Hints and suggestions for village preachers. Hints on teaching the illiterate. Books for the instruction of catechumens. The Message of Christ for Society: The sufficiency of Christianity to meet India’s need; Christianity and nationalism; Domestic Economy; Lessons from the Early Church on Social Service; Christian Social Service to-day; tracts on practical Christianity; fellowship, purity, service, etc. The Growth of the Church : The story of missions and the growth of the Church in early and recent times; an account of martyrs. Evangelistic Tracts and Booklets : “Many exist, but good ones are always needed, especially non-controversial but appealing to the hearts and consciences of men.” Amongst the suggestions for such literature, we find the following : (a) Tracts in Urdu should open with an Arabic quota¬ tion from the Koran and conclude with a ga^al (hymn). (b) The claims of Christ as Saviour, stated in simple and forceful sentences, might be printed on the inner sides of the covers of the half-anna gospels in Persian-Urdu. (c) Some of the tracts in Arabic for women and chil¬ dren written by Miss 1. L. Trotter, and more of the Khutbas in use in Egypt might be translated. Explanation of Christian Doctrines for Moslems: New books are desired on God, Man, Sin, Salvation, Forgive- [ii8] INDIAN MOSLEMS ness, the Power of the Cross, Repentance and other great topics. Biographies: “There is a very serious gap in Indian Christian biography. Only four biographies of Indian Chris- tians are available in Urdu. A list of names of great Indian Christians of whom biographies might be written need hardly be given.” “For women and children too we need a series of short stories of noble lives.” Stories: “There is great need for stories of healthy adventure and romance for young people, boys and girls. We also need story books on Indian life, which might be written by Indian and foreign teachers of the young in collaboration.” In this connection we should mention a monthly story magazine for boys and girls of India which has been started during the year at Bangalore, with the attractive title. The Treasure Chest, Editor, Miss Ruth E. Robinson. It is not a Christian propaganda paper, but it gives the best, wholesome stories and articles to its readers, and so lives up to the high ethical standards of Christian journalism. It is published in English, for only in this way can it serve the whole of India, and all its creeds and classes with its limited funds. It could undoubtedly be made more useful if it were printed in bi¬ lingual editions, as for instance English-Urdu ; which would greatly increase the possibility of its circulation among Moslems. Periodical Literature: “In Lahore one Moslem press issues a special paper for children and another for women. Both owe their existence to Christian inspiration, but both were started by a Moslem woman, and now that she is dead her work is carried on by her daughter. While the material is prepared chiefly with the Moslem child or woman in mind, yet the character of the stories for the children, and articles for the wife and the home are of such a high tone that many mission schools for girls in North India and the Punjab are regular subscribers! Which fact shows how great is the need for good Christian papers and magazines of this character, for our own community as well as for Moslems.’^ [1 19] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM SUGGESTIONS (a) It is suggested that the Persian-Urdu weekly Nur Afshan^ (The Spreading Light), published in Ludhiana for Christians, should cater more than it now does for devout and cultured Moslem readers. (b) It is suggested that the very Valuable Orient and Occident, published at Cairo in Arabic and English, should also be published in Urdu and English. (c) Women and older girls should have a monthly paper like the late Urdu publication, The Garden of the Heart. II. Bengali and Mussulmani Bengali Bordering on the hills of NepaUand of Assam, in North and Eastern Bengal, the dialect of Mussulmani Bengali is used by a larger block of population than is any other Moslem language of India. Urdu has greater Moslem pres¬ tige, and is used by a greater total number of people. But Mussulmani Bengali is the speech of the greatest number of Moslems within one solid block of territory. Almost 24,000,000, or about fifty per cent of the population of the province, speak this Islamised dialect of Bengali, and the numbers using it are on the increase. It is a language of the villages rather than of cities and of literature, and it has hitherto been left behind in Christian literature production, although Bengali proper, with its great modern literature, has claimed and yet claims the services of literature missionaries. Rouse, Goldsack, Takle and others have worked, or work in Bengali, and rightly so, for it is one of the languages of Islamic anti-Christian apology. The leading Bengali Moslem paper Al Islam is a monthly for men of education, and under- * This weekly was founded fifty years ago to provide a medium by which the constant tide of antagonistic statements made in Moslem papers could be refuted. It soon became the medium of instruction both for non- Christians and Christians. It has carried on controversy with Moslems all these years. It is just now concerned with the Ahmadiya publications, and their attack on the doctrine of the atonement. — E. M. W. [120] INDIAN MOSLEMS takes the defence of the faith against Christianity: its first number contained an article entitled Where is the original Bible? Muhammadi, a Bengali weekly, may be called the Moslem counterpart of the missionary magazines of Christen¬ dom. It gives news concerning Moslem missions of the Lahore type of the Ahmadiya movement, and publishes diatribes against the Qadian branch of the same movement and against Christians with impartial hostility. Bengali has also a leaflet literature against Christianity with titles such as Was Jesns sinless? and The destroyer of the Trinity. There is also a popular literature of the Moslem masses, ‘‘written in Bengali doggerel and printed in books called Puthi. These may be seen for sale in nearly every village market and can be obtained at an astonishingly cheap price. They cover such subjects as The Faith of Islam, Rides of Islam, and Instruction in Religion. Guides to prayer and ablution, and to the repetition of chapters from the Koran are numerous, as are books dealing with the Devil, Death, Resurrection of the Dead.’' (Rev. J. Takle.) EXISTENT CHRISTIAN LITERATURE The Christian response has been made mainly to the more controversial Moslem works, and in the form of tracts, although many urge the opportunity before a Christian review in addition to tract literature. The main task is now felt to be the preparation of a more popular literature in the Mussul- mani Bengali, with more positive and less controversial teach¬ ing, for the multitudes of the simple folk whose literature is the rhymed puthi sold in the village market. The tract circulation in Bengali has been considerable as compared with many countries. Seventeen leaflets published since 1900, by Mr. Goldsack and others, have run through editions varying from 20,000 to 90,000 and are now out of print, while many others are now in circulation. Careful note has been made of those leaflets that need revision owing to their too polemical approach. It is doubted whether titles such as Jesus or Mohammed? should again be used, since they put the Moslem reader into a hostile attitude from the start. [121] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Beyond tracts, there is very little Bengali literature for Moslems. Sweet First Fruits is in translation, and Mr. Gold- sack’s Ghulam JabbaFs Renunciation is on sale, as well as his Bengali translation of the Koran, most valuable to the Christian Church, and indeed necessary for working purposes, but, naturally enough, suspect among educated Moslems. Some of the existent Bengali literature might be made serviceable for Moslems, if it were done into the Mussulmani dialect. Among such are noted three simple Bible stories with very ready sale (The Creation, The Story of Joseph, The Story of Elijah and Elisha) an edition of the Psalms in verse, a tract called The Mirror of the Heart, and several more gen¬ eral books especially descriptions of other countries. The strongest point about the comparatively small Bengali literature already issued in the Moslem form of the language is the proportion of the tracts (principally Bible stories) pub¬ lished in rhyme. It is hard to exaggerate the importance of this form for village readers. LITERATURE NEEDED The literature planned for Moslems is all to be produced in the Mussulmani form of the language, and the list of litera¬ ture desired in Urdu and quoted as an exemplar for other Indian languages, might be transferred whole (with the sole exception of the proposals for magazines) to Mussulmani Bengali. But besides these needs common to Urdu, Bengali, with its enormous village population, has several additional wants to make known : (a) A catechism, using Moslem terms, covering Bible ground, giving teaching on the Holy Spirit and on prayer, and meeting the common Moslem objections. (b) A simple Bible primer, containing stories from Adam to Jesus, and well illustrated. (c) A more advanced reader comprising more Stories of the Prophets somewhat along the line of Miss McClean’s book of that name which has proved so useful to Bible- women. [122] Copyright by Publishers Photo Service IN THE booksellers’ BAZAAR A Bookstore in Lucknow. Notice the Alphabet Charts in Arabic and English INDIAN MOSLEMS (d) Tracts: Most of the tracts written for Moslems by Dr. Rouse and others in Bengali and English are out of print. Since tracts are urgently needed, it is suggested that such earlier leaflets as it is proposed to re-issue should be carefully revised from the point of view of subject matter and method of approach. For East Bengal, tracts are needed in the simple vernacular of the villagers ; these should be only a leaflet printed on both sides of fairly good paper. For sim¬ ple Moslems we should approximate our publications to the size and style of their religious puthi (the religious booklets referred to above), the language being the rhymed couplet so common in that class of book. The proposals for Christian literature in Urdu and Mus- sulmani Bengali may be taken as giving in rough general form the norm for such proposals in other Indian languages. Urdu sets the type of proposal for the more literary languages, Mussulman! Bengali adds the type for less literate popula¬ tions, especially outside the urban centres. Under the remain¬ ing languages we shall not state detailed schemes unless they propose some literary task peculiar to themselves. 111. Mussulmani Punjabi This is the dialect of some 13,000,000 Moslems, com¬ prising about half the population of the North West Frontier Province. It is the language of a sturdy people but not of a great literature. The literary members of the community all know Urdu, which is taught in the Government schools. EXISTENT CHRISTIAN LITERATURE A small tract literature has been prepared for these Mos¬ lems in their mother tongue, chiefly by the Rev. R. M. Waiz, and printed at Lahore. There is only a total of a dozen titles, comprising simple tales, the Hundred Texts, and — of chief importance for illiterate village folk — a Life of Christ, and one or two shorter Bible stories in rhymed Punjabi verse. Of [123] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM this Life of Christ from St. Luke’s Gospel, a missionary writes “It is good to hear the passion with which it is followed hour after hour. Constant repetition is a feature of their music, and one realises the wisdom of this with a people most of whom cannot read. They pick up the words at perhaps the third repetition, and the whole congregation is singing.” IF. English English should appear not later than fourth in order of importance, among the languages for influencing Indian Moslems. (For details see chap. X, European Languages.) F. Sindhi More than 2)4 million of the population of Sindh, or 72 per cent of the whole speak this dialect. Existent Christian Literature : A literature of seventeen titles exists for Sindh. There are two books of some size. The Pilgrim's Progress and The Test of a Guru (on Christian evidences). Besides this, two small hymn- books exist, and the rest is booklet literature, chiefly on Bible stories, two of the booklets giving the Life of the Saviour in verse. Only one booklet (questions and answers on Moham¬ medan objections) deals specifically with Moslem difficulties. Fifteen of the seventeen Sindhi Christian works have been issued anonymously. The latest addition to this scanty litera¬ ture is a Sindhi commentary on St. Mark in preparation by Canon Ali Baksh for use in the villages. FI. Hindi Hindi, spoken by 82,000,000 people, has 16% of Mos¬ lems. For these readers in a few cases duplicate issues have been made of the Urdu books for Moslems; in such books the [124] INDIAN MOSLEMS title, treatment, and to a very great extent the language is identical but the Nagari character is used instead of the Per¬ sian. Hindi, like Urdu and the other principal Indian lan¬ guages, has a small number of books to enable Indian Chris¬ tians to understand Islam. An important work in this class is a Hindi translation of the Koran by the Rev. Ahmad Shah. NOTE ON BORDER LANGUAGES Kashmiri, Pushtu and Beluchi have this in common, that they are languages of peoples who have never yet produced a literature and who look for schooling and progressive ideas to greater neighbour languages, like Urdu and Persian. The words of Lowenthal, the brilliant pioneer scholar-missionary shot on the borders of Afghanistan in 1864, may indicate a policy for Christian literature in Pushtu and in other barely- civilised mother tongues which persist under the shadow of great literary languages : “He who would undertake the glorious task of giving the Afghans the beginning of a real literature, of a Christian literature, would have first to ascertain the most prevalent, the purest, the best understood dialect, and not rest content with translating into the language of the frontier. Frontier dialects are always mongrel and inferior. An additional task will be his who shall endeavour to bring the Afghans to Christ through the instrumentality of religious treatises or tracts. He will probably find it highly advisable if not actually necessary, to compose them in the form of verse and rhyme. There seems a period in the history of every nation, when prose cannot live, when the distinction between prose and poetry is unknown, and the instructors of a people can only speak to them in measured language; when prose to them is prosy and rhyme reason. So it is with the Afghans of this day. There are prose works in their language, historical and religious, but while these are merely read by learned men here and there, the works in verse are extremely popular among all classes, and are recited and sung on roads and streets by old and young. The Lord must appoint the men for this [125] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM peculiar enterprise of Christian literature. He must endue them with the needed qualifications, and He must open the door of faith.” Vll. Kashmiri Although Kashmiri is the language of nearly 2j4 million, or more than three quarters of the population of Kashmir, it is in no sense a literary language, and literates generally read Persian or Urdu. In the schools Kashmiri is only used for explanation in the lower classes, text-books being in Urdu or English. The only Kashmiri literature is the New Testament with parts of the Old, and a few leaflet tracts. Dr. Minnie Gomery last year prepared some Kashmiri Christian hymns for simple folk. Vlll. Pushtu One and a half million Moslems in the North West Frontier province and in the northern part of Beloochistan speak this language, as well as numerous Pathan tribes in that wild intricacy of rugged hills between British India and the Emirate of Kabul. Within Afghanistan, Persian and Pushtu are rival languages, Persian preponderating near the Persian frontiers. In British India, Pathan converts learn Urdu, and non-Christians who are literate in Pushtu also read Persian. Considering the far greater literary opportunities in Urdu and Persian it is doubtful whether Pushtu will ever attain a great literature. But it has its significance as the Gaelic of some of the sturdiest Highlands in the world, a purely Moslem race, the opening of whose closed land may be one of the great events in the story of Moslem evangelisation. Pathan con¬ verts have already shown that they have in them the stuff of Christian martyrs, and have risked their lives on apostolic journeys. Dr. T. L. Pennell, who loved the race, long ago pointed out that they are a people endowed both with strength [126] INDIAN MOSLEMS of character and with the travel gift. ‘‘The Provindahs,” he wrote in 1912, “are familiar in all parts of India as the stalwart, truculent, Afghan traders, and most of the men of these tribes are able to read the Koran in Arabic (without however understanding the meaning), and carry a copy about with them on their travels.” It was noted that a Pathan convert carried in the same way his Bible and a set of pictures of the life of Christ, and pro¬ duced them everywhere. The Afghans may be regarded as a carrier race; they are met in Arabia, East Africa, Burma, Malaysia and even West Australia. The importance for evangelisation throughout all Moslem Central Asia of the new opportunities for intercourse with the Afghan race can hardly be overestimated. EXISTENT CHRISTIAN LITERATURE Parts of Minar al Haqq, Sweet First Fruits, The Pilgrim's Progress, The Mirror of the Heart, and another book called The Covenant of Salvation, with three small hymnbooks make almost the total of Pushtu Christian literature. LITERATURE NEEDED The rhymed presentations of the Gospel story, which Lowenthal longed to see sixty years ago, have never come into being. “There is need to-day for a well-illustrated simple Bible Primer with stories from Adam to Jesus.” “For readers in the Peshawar district there should be re¬ vived a simple Pushtu newspaper like that formerly issued by the late Dr. Pennell.” IX. Beluchi The position of Beluchi, as of Kashmiri is, on a smaller scale, rather similar to that of Pushtu. It is a Moslem mother tongue never likely to be a great literary language. It is used [127], CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM by nearly 91 per cent of the people of a desert land whose total population is just under 415,000. The new railroad built during the war through Beloochistan to the Persian bor¬ der only serves to emphasise the literary dominion of the Per¬ sian language with its great prestige. There is practically no literature in Beluchi save Scripture translations. X. Persian See chap. V. (Literature for Persian-reading Moslems.) XL Burmese There are about 420,000 Moslems in Burma including many immigrants from India and they show a tendency to increase, especially in Rangoon. Most of them are found in the coast ranges, and they reach an unusually high rate of literacy, — about 18 per cent. Bible Society colporteurs have represented them as readily approachable also, as the following extracts show : “A Mohammedan silk merchant called me to him in the bazaar and bought up all the books I had, explain¬ ing that he wished to present copies to his friends.” “A Mohammedan lady sent a boy for more books saying she was much pleased and wished to give them to her children and her sisters that they might read about the Prophet Jesus.” EXISTENT CHRISTIAN LITERATURE Small beginnings were made by the late Dr. W. F. Armstrong of the Baptist Mission, who took part in a public debate with leading Moslems, won the friendship of his opponents, and on going blind, dictated a series of messages to thinking men among the Moslems, which were published and well received. With the proposed appointment of a whole time literature secretary for Burmese, it should be possible to follow up these beginnings. [128] INDIAN MOSLEMS XIl. Gujerati and Marathi The Moslems of the Bombay Presidency have far-flung connections. In the Persian Guif and along the North Arabian coast, or in Baghdad one meets them. In Madagascar again, and along the East African coast they are found, while the report from Malaysia says that a considerable number of Moslem immigrants from British India speak Gujerati. Steps are now being taken to set apart literary workers for these, the two great languages of the Presidency. In literature for Moslems almost nothing has been done. Gujerati has eleven titles of Christian books for Moslems, and the report of the recent Indian literature survey summarised the situation as follows : : “The few books dealing with Islam that exist in Gujerati are not very satisfactory, and we have none at all specially written for the Mohammedan communities such as Borahs, Khojas (or Islamised Hindus belonging to the Ismahliya Sect), Memans and Molesalams, who are so numerous in Gujerat, Kathiawar, and Bombay. It will be difficult to secure such books until some of our missionaries undertake to make a special study of one or more of these communities, and I have not heard of any doing so yet.” XIII. Tamil and the Languages of South India Tamil may be taken as typical of those languages of Southern India — Telugu, Malayalam, Kanarese, etc. (with Sinhalese in Ceylon) — whose main constituency is of another faith, but which have also a Moslem minority, so small in comparison with the Hindu masses as to be in danger of being overlooked by producers of literature. These last are men with a very large task and very little money, and unless some central worker is set apart to stimulate and assist in special production for Moslems not very much can be expected. There is probably held in solution at any one time amongst [129] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM the Hindus of South India a residuum of about a million members of the Moslem communities of the north, — foreign migrants who speak Urdu, some of Arabian and Persian origin, sturdy wandering Pathans, merchants and travelling sheikhs. The Moslem minorities of the south may generally be said to owe their existence either to the descendants of such immigrants by wives of southern stock, or to their missionary activity; in the case of the Marakkayars, however, — the own¬ ers of most of the coasting craft on the Coromandel shore, — we may perhaps look back to an infusion of the blood and faith of Arab and Persian mariners. The Moplas (or Mapillahs) of Malabar are probably de¬ scendants of Arab fathers and local mothers. They take a pride in reading their Malayalam literature in the Arabic character ; and recent political events have shown that a burn¬ ing fanaticism is easily stirred in the Moplah districts. But quite apart from special political promptings they are con¬ tinuously an active Moslem missionary force, felt throughout Malabar and Kanara. A missionary writes : “During an outbreak of cholera, Malayalam-speaking con¬ verts to Islam carried on a most successful propaganda of their faith. Mopla men and women went to the. houses of their neighbours and praised conversion to Islam as the only and sure means of escaping the dire disease. And whole families embraced Islam in spite of the fact that two-thirds of their victims of the disease were Moplas.” For these ardent Moslems, two books and a tract exist in Malayalam; in Kanarese, two tracts. It is probable that more of the existing Malayalam Christian literature, especially of the nature of Bible stories, might be made serviceable to them, if it were first worked over by a missionary familiar with the local Moslem vocabulary and then published in the Arabic character. The Tamil-speaking Moslems are in part, like the Moplas, the result of Mbslem immigration from the north or from foreign parts, and in part the descendants of southern con¬ verts without intermixture of foreign Moslem blood. The [130] INDIAN MOSLEMS former, or Labbais, are traders and betel-vine growers in Tanjore and Madura; a few of them are divers. The latter are the Ravidtans, once very largely employed in Tippu Sultan’s cavalry, but now for the most part frugal leather traders. Some of them go far afield, for the Malaysian report says : “In the British area there are a great many Mohammedans from British India, most of whom speak Tamil. None of the missionaries are specialising in work among these Indian peoples, except in so far as we come across them as students in our schools. There are many Tamil Christian pastors and evangelists, but they work chiefly among the Hindus. As in Malaysia, so at home, these Tamil-speaking Moslems are a neglected element. In spite of the fact that Madras, through the labours of Canon Sell and the far-seeing policy of the Christian Literature Society, has become one of the greatest centres of publication for Moslems; and in spite of the fact that Tamil has probably the greatest Christian litera¬ ture in India, the Moslem minorities of the Madras Presi¬ dency and Tamil-speaking Moslems in Ceylon are almost overlooked. And this even though the Ahmadiya movement finds it worth while to publish a Tamil version of its Islamic Review. A special form of Tamil is necessary in work for Moslems; they interlard it with Arabic terms as the Brahmans introduce Sanskrit. A book in the Arabic type is dear to them and should it fall will be kissed and raised to the forehead. The present supply of such literature in Tamil (as in Telugu) consists chiefly of Dr. Rouse’s series of tracts. In Tamil there are twelve titles in all, the longest work being of 36 pages. There has not yet been any attempt to adapt exist¬ ing Tamil books of Bible stories to a vocabulary understood by Tamil Moslems and to reprint them in Arabic character. And although there are in Tamil thirty-two tracts in verse for Hindu readers and fourteen books of hymns in Indian metres, there has not yet arisen a Christian versifier for the Moslem community. Literature for children is mentioned as a special need, especially leaflets with coloured pictures. [131] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Perhaps the most important step is to lay the burden of the Moslem population upon the heart of the Indian Christian Church. To this end, Canon Sell’s Faith of Islam has been translated into Tamil, but apart from this Mr. Clayton’s report says, “There is practically no literature in Tamil dealing with Islam from the Christian standpoint.” XIV. C onclusions So great is India that it is impossible to bring this chapter into the same scale of treatment with the rest. Some of her languages have not even been mentioned, which, although not Moslem tongues, yet cannot afford to ignore Islam. Thus the report on Oriya Christian literature says, “The catalogue mentions one small tract only, dealing with Islam, which is now out of print. It is true we do not deal much with Mos¬ lems but Dr. Rouse’s series of tracts should really be available in Oriya.” Enough has been said to show that an effective handling of the situation can only be hoped for by setting apart at least one central worker in Moslem literature, to foster and aid the efforts of the literary workers in the various languages. The plan adopted, too, by the Christian Literature Society, of pre¬ paring specialist books in English, for translation, seems abundantly justified. The reports sound clearly a call for a new note in apolo¬ getic literature. Dr. E. M. Wherry in publishing his classified list of Urdu Christian literature in 1920, wrote: “The literature needed for Moslems in the new era is two-fold : (a) A spiritual literature addressed to men, not as Moslems, but as sinners needing to be reconciled to God or filled by His Spirit. (b) A Scriptural apologetic, holding up Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world whose law of liberty must become the only law of life. [132] INDIAN MOSLEMS This will necessitate a revision of much of the literature already published.” Canon Sell urges that whatever new paths we follow in apologetic literature we maintain a high standard of accuracy, working directly from Arabic and Persian sources with full verification of all quotations, in footnotes. The reports indicate also much work before the Indian Church in the study of the various local Moslem sects and communities, and in thinking out her apologetics for those modernising schools in which the keenest intellectual life and propagandist energy of Islam is to be found to-day. Certain other general lines for new literature are indicated. We quote from the report : Experimental : ‘Tt is the opinion of this committee that while it is still advisable to maintain a large proportion of literature to meet specific Moslem errors, there is urgent need in India to-day for more positive contributions from the side of Christian faith and experience.” Colloquial: “Many workers throughout Northern India feel the need of a Life of Jesus in the colloquial lan¬ guages, for simple uneducated millions of village folk, — Moslem men, women and children. Plans are already on foot to adapt a suitable English work for this purpose, and make a text in simple modern English, available for transla¬ tion into vernaculars.” Stories and Pictures : There is a general demand that literature for children, and for the only-just literate, shall have pictures, and shall be largely a story literature. “The need is widely felt for another writer with the sacred gift of A.L.O.E. who will be able to do similar work, but with Moslem readers in view.” A note of optimism characterises the whole report. “We would suggest that a central body be constituted for all India, composed of experts in the matter of literature for Moslems, and that this body, having before it the more urgent needs, approach certain persons with the object of getting them to take in hand a definite piece of work. We are on the threshold of a new era when all missions will work in closer harmony than hitherto.” [133] Chapter VII CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN MALAYSIA AND THE PHILIPPINES In these islands the flank of Islam is unsupported on the north and the east. It is also weakened by its failure to impose its sacred Arabic script and language upon the people. Nowhere else is woman¬ hood so freely accessible to the Gospel message. At this time the leaven of new ideas is stirring the whole mass, and. the demand for education is in¬ creasing with every fresh effort to meet that demand. A generous government makes available medical mission work at a minimum of expense to mission funds. It is highly significant that at a time when such movements are converging, the ChAstian mis¬ sions should be drawing together for greater co¬ operation. — Rev. Harry B. Mansell, Supt. Java Mission, Methodist Episcopal Church. ^‘Insulinde’^ is the happy Dutch name for an island world spread over an area as large as that of the United States. For the purposes of the present Survey this great area was grouped as follows : a. The Dutch East Indian Empire including Java, Su¬ matra, the greater part of Borneo, the island of Celebes and the smaller islands to the East of Java. b. British Malaya including the Malay Peninsula with Singapore and Penang, and the three states of North Borneo. c. The Philippine Islands under America, with their Moslem population especially in Mindanao, and the Sulu Archipelago. This island world has had about five centuries of contact with Islam. To-day in Java alone there are 35,000,000, vir- [134], MALAYSIA AND THE PHILIPPINES tually all Moslems. Since the 14th century the dreaded Malay pirates on the north coast of Sumatra have been Moslem, and from that century dates a steady permeation by Islam. It has worked through trade, through marriage, through slavery, and in the early days through war. It works to-day in great part through the influence of ilni ^ (“magic,” the Arabic word is corrupted into a Malay form, Elmu) imparted by a guru to murids, united for ever to their teacher and to one another by a magical bond. The progress of Islam during the 19th century was helped rather than hindered by the presence of European Governments. “The up-country Government staff (of Sumatra) is chiefly recruited from among Mohammedans. The official language of the Colonial Government is the Malay language; and this, written for the most part in Arabic character, promotes Moslem propaganda. In the Government schools the teachers are mostly Moham¬ medans, and their influence in propagating Islam is very considerable.” ^ Since this paragraph was written in 1913 the Dutch Government has deliberately changed its policy with regard to the use of the Arabic character. The Romanized script is now used in both Dutch and British vernacular schools. But the change came late and the Mohammedan Malay greatly prefers the Arabic script. The progress of Islam still continues. In giving a list of the eight chief languages spoken by Moslems in this area, the Survey reports an increase in the percentage of Moslems using every language. In Celebes, in North Borneo and away beyond the area of the present Survey, among the forests of New Guinea, Islam is gradually gaining on the old paganism. The Islam of these parts has a character all its own. In the charms used by the medicine men of the Malay Peninsula the chief gods of the Brahmin pantheon remain as the chief figures among 'afrits and 'jinn. In the islands, where it found primitive animistic cults, Islam “has relaid the old animistic ^ It is curious to note that one of the chief sources of influence of the Malay Moslems in their conversion of poor whites in Cape Town is the practice of magic. See The Moslem World, Jan., 1915, pp. 33, 36, 37. ^ The Moslem World, April, 1913, p. 162. [135] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM foundations of the heathen’s religion, and run up a light artistic superstructure upon it of Moslem customs.” ^ Yet have these people a stake in the world of Islam, and no Moslem land sends so high a percentage of pilgrims to Mecca. The total number of pilgrims in 1921 from the Dutch East Indies was 28,788. And the total number of pilgrims at Mecca that year was 60,786. That is, almost one-half of all the pilgrims came from the Dutch East Indies. This pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the steady foreign contacts of the Malaysian world, and it strengthens the Islamic consciousness of the people. Thousands of Arabs also enter the island world for trading purposes, and very lordly are these ancient aristocrats of Islam toward the parvenus of Insulinde, among whom they all lay claim to belong not only to the race but to the very family of the Prophet. Other foreign influences continually stream upon this middle world, for Singapore is one of the great meeting- places of mankind and Malaysia is subject on the one hand to a stream of Indian influences and on the other to a steady current from China. The Indians and the Chinese are every¬ where in evidence as shopkeepers. Malaysia has a large Chinese population. The rubber lands draw a steady flow of immigrant Indian labour, largely Tamil. These contacts have included some touch with Christianity, and the past has seen a tendency on the part of missions in the British area to specialise on work for the Indian and Chinese population, “with splendid results.” Amongst the immigrants “there are many Tamil Christian pastors and evangelists, but they work entirely among the Hindus.” The bulk of the Christian Church in British Malaya is Chinese. Owing to the difficulty of reading their own written character, many of these Chinese born in the country are literate in Malay rather than in Chinese. The Malay newspapers, even those which cater for a Moslem public and appear strongly Moslem are owned and edited by Malay-speaking Chinese. The Chinese speak and write as a rule a debased form of Malay (“Baba-Malay”) which is unattractive to the Moslem population, but one “Gottfried Simon, Progress and Arrest of Islam in Sumgtra. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Chinese Christian has published four Malay tracts for Christians. I. T he Entrance of C hristian Literature “The first Christian literature in the Malay language was produced by the chaplains sent out by the Dutch East India Company early in the 17th century. It seems to have con¬ sisted chiefly of books of sermons (preek bundels) and catechisms.” They had an interesting successor during the second decade of the 19th century in a German clockmaker named Embde. He heard of the “perpetual summer” of Java, and the phrase clashed with the literal interpretation of Genesis VIII .22. This good man set sail for the East to disprove the accounts of travellers which seemed contrary to his reading of the Bible. His faith survived the climate, and he remained to evangelise with considerable success, and to publish Christian tracts in Java. None of these early efforts showed much understanding of the minds of the people they were to help. They followed the lines then approved in religious literature at home. The scholarly work of the Bible Societies began early, and not only is the entire Bible available in the chief languages of Insulinde, but the Netherlands Bible Society has prepared Bible handbooks and Bible histories which are preferred for use among new converts. The Society claims that as a pre¬ liminary to standard translations this form of giving God’s Word in a new tongue is to be preferred. The first missionaries sent to this field by the London Missionary Society and the American Board, 1815-40, had printing presses at Singapore, Malacca and Batavia and pro¬ duced a considerable quantity of literature. In 1843 the mis¬ sionaries were withdrawn to China, but the press at Singapore continued in the hands of an independent missionary until 1872, producing a good deal of literature for Moslems some of which has been re-printed in recent years. The present successors [138] A MALAY TYPESETTER USING LINOTYPE MACHINE, SINGAPORE > • H " ■ ^v- ^ *^.- -1;. vS* .■ V > -*, ^ V .te/.f. ., . i 'A. '••w,f 1- *' K— >■ :, ►. ' ■ ai^. • > 1*’'^ .•■ * ' • % \ti A>*J ^41 ‘ s ; Mjt ^ t, ^ .• s » .i . -vr. j ■ _ . _ . /• . 1 - i »» l» '• ■ '•■ I ,■• 9 ,,.-• '^" , - •. C -V -Tr , » • •“'MpT , . • j. *- y . ■ * *4. ' '■ A • *L-aW* ■r." * ' • ■ A •r, . , ■■ “ ^.'-1^. Aid. ' ‘ y :> '■ * i •■ ’iprx- . -A ‘ •* a ♦ ' " '■J »• >>4 — * > ■ ' '' -‘ ■ ?^ •' ♦ I i> * ■•■ '* « '¥ • .•i '*''", , ■> ' -.-• ■ >:’'?V. « .* ^ 1-- . V.-. , ' ‘ ' ■ ■ . V /*•, *, . . • ' ■- ’ . < f 0 ♦ #• V; V*-. JJ* 2 ‘ •••■r rWd r. r . . <* .1 i ^ A- ; . , r: v' ; : • '■" • ' , .ti •_ * • i‘- ^ "4 ■•.•.. ’vA^r-cij! „ V ^ * y r -r i ^ «* ' ^ ; - •> . i •#,. .• w J , • ’T.' 1 y' - .-y * ■;f ■■ ^ • • > Si 4 a * I iri^ •C *' V - V** fx - • .7I .':^V rV’-,r '■*. .t V^"’ I '« • •> ’ T * ‘a.- V •4 J V.-- /- ,4 3-v i a' • ^ - V* • A aAi -r:; -**'4^ ' ’j# . ' e ’ . > i . v: . •i ••■ V i • -i ,.» * J ■ < ■ , - A * 1 '■ ■ 4 • VI ^ : J a !*« ? ...-■V ' # - r- ->v. T * :.T5'' V:' !» K i ' 4 t •-' '■' If ,,..J Ij.tl. J.' . ^> •' , ^ ■» • . ,' "4 •' ■-• '• * .^.1 . • ,. v'*' . » • ■ '■ 1* • * ' 'Ji A , r '* > . ••* ■ Ai'«. 'Vi •;■ * -*41 .. ’ _ *Jr: I^liir---- ■'** .*4 . ’ ' •■' ■^. i^Lli^i’* ■ ' A^Sil AS : 0. ^ • ScTS^^-^'- ' M V. 4Kw-X,'"V ™ \ •■ '^ ^ ■ . V- •■■ -5^ ■ ■ > ■ •■ ^-'.t V, rV--» , , *» ■*•■' ■4, . ' • 'V •*>. . .> ■' ^' ■• • . V . •■ . ..fc. 'tif": '■ - .■■ ‘ A' , ’•' V ^,4- 4-. T ;^- ■ 'i ‘ ■ 4 : ■ > ■ ^ • /•■ ■ ■ V *'4* x A ly. .a^ j«A . ( P V- ^ jb MALAYSIA AND THE PHILIPPINES of this work are three Dutch literature committees in Java, and the Methodist Episcopal Church Press at Singapore. The Colonial Government of the Netherlands, which for half a century has adopted a most benevolent, patriarchal attitude toward the backward races and classes in its island empire, is to-day pushing forward a program of general education, and has established a Bureau voor Lectuur (Litera¬ ture Department) under able management. This Bureau has set up thousands of small loan libraries in connection with government schools, and issues a catalog of over 600 volumes. It would seem possible and desirable that the various missions in the Dutch Empire should influence this output, and perhaps direct the channels of its influence for good. //. The Languages to be Used in Insulinde The most compact and numerous language group is that which speaks Javanese, the tongue of some twenty millions in Central and Eastern Java, where the population is denser than anywhere else in Malaysia. At a conference held in 1922 for all missions in Java, it was estimated by those present that the number of those who read Javanese is one and one-half million, Malay 1,000,000 Sundanese 400,000, and Madurese 200,000. Of the total population in Java one-fiftieth attend school of some sort. 80,000 children in Java are studying the Dutch language and literacy increases every year. Here among the young people trained in Dutch schools is a great thirst for reading matter. In one year the Bible Society sold 47,000 Javanese Scriptures. Less favourable conditions prevail among the twelve millions in Western Java who speak Sundanese. But the language of greatest importance for those who desire to serve Moslems, though only the third in point of numbers using it, is Malay. ‘Tn spite of the fact that the population of the little island of Java is probably not less than seven-eighths of the entire population of the East Indies, and that the inhabitants of that island (Javanese, Sundanese and [139] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Madurese) provide by far the largest number of those who go from Malaysia to perform the pilgrimage at Mecca, there can yet be no doubt that the people of Java have never been the most influential Mohammedans in this part of the world. History shows that Islam has been spread throughout Ma¬ laysia not by the people of Java, but by the Malays of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. The common expression for be¬ coming a convert to Islam is masok McdayUy to become a Malay. (W. G. Shellabear.) ^‘Nearly all newspapers are printed in Malay which is the language of Mohammedan propaganda throughout the Pen¬ insula and Archipelago, and Moslem literature in the Malay language is found everywhere in this region,” The Malay is one of the carrier nations of Islam. ^‘Malay is the lingua franca of the coast-line and rivers. Every river in Borneo has its Malay settlement. Northwards in Siam the Malays form a considerable Moslem community. At Bangkok, where they go as gardeners, sayces and cloth-merchants, is a Moslem centre with twenty mosques and a sheikh from the Azhar. Here is the linking place with Chinese Islam. The Malay who goes as a groom to Siam links hands with the Yunnanese trader, who roves the north of the country. He finds in Chiengmai a mosque built by the Yunnanese with the help of Indian Moslem merchants. The Malay is a travelled person. About half of the Moslems in French Indo-China are of this race. In Cape Colony he is a busy propagandist of Islam, especially by marriage with Christian girls. Of all the languages of Insulinde, “Undoubtedly the Malay language is the most important medium for spreading the Gospel amongst Moslems, if we consider the whole task.” There remains a host of lesser languages that call out all the painstaking love of the Christian Church, beginning with Madurese, the language of four millions in Madura and East Java, and ending with the least of the io8 languages of the Dyak and other tribes of Borneo. There is no prospect that any of these will be the language of a great literature. Nor have all of them need of a special Christian literature for Moslems. Some of them no doubt are doomed to die. Yet [140] MALAYSIA AND THE PHILIPPINES each of them is the mother tongue for some human group which has a right to the message of Christ in its own speech, and which, permeated with the spirit of Christ may be a living barrier to the spread of Islam. 111. Literature Produced The productions of the Netherlands Government Bureau Vo or Lectuur, mentioned above, are neutral (that is colourless in regard to religious belief) yet present high ideals, including some of the best novels, histories and books of popular science. This Bureau also publishes a first-class illustrated monthly magazine in Malay, excellent and high-toned in contents but without any religious bias or distinctly Christian message. The sixteen missionary societies at work in the Dutch area have the care upon them of a large Christian Church, the fruit of their wonderful evangelist work. Of this Church of 60,000 members, 40,000 are converts from Islam. The work of the Rhenish mission in Sumatra has resulted in stemming the progress of Islam among native tribes and in raising up a Christian community right across the island from Sibolga to Medan. Indeed on the Island of Nias, one half of the population, 46,000, are Christians. With so large a Christian community to care for, the Dutch and German societies have produced literature in Malay, Javanese, Sundanese and Madurese, chiefly designed for and sold to Christians. Its largest elements are Scripture commentaries and sermons, with a book of Church history, especially designed for the use of indigenous preachers. The possibilities are great, and the missionary societies have recently shown signs of greater co-operation in the production of literature, which is everywhere in demand. At Solo, for example, 47,000 copies of a Christian Javanese Wall Calendar, together with a Gospel, were sold last year by one mission. But the total amount available in the various missions for literature production is only 7,000 guilders annually. An exhibit of all existing literature shown at a conference in [141] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM 1922, could be placed on one small table, and a sample copy of every book and tract could be purchased for £10. This is a pitiful showing after more than 100 years of missionary effort. In the character of the literature provided, both as to form and content, Dutch and German thoroughness are evident. But excellent as the literature is in many respects, it is not yet reaching the needs of Moslems. ‘‘Some years ago a care¬ ful survey was made of the literature published by the Malay Christian Union at Meester-Cornelis, and none of their pub¬ lications were found to be suitable for use amongst Moslems, even if reprinted in the Arabic character.” ^ When the Malay language is used, it is printed in Romanised character as a matter of deliberate policy. So far then, the work of the Dutch literature societies has been rather to train the converts won, and to build an effective barrier against the spread of Islam, than to reach the Moslem mind. Such beginnings as have been made in special apologetic for Moslems have been chiefly through the Press of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Shellabear writes : “Singapore seems to be the centre of the Mohammedan literary propaganda for the Dutch Indies as well as for the British area, and it is doubtful whether there is any other place in Malaysia where so many Malay books, pamphlets and newspapers in the Arabic character are being printed and published.” “Although the Roman character is taught in the British (as in the Dutch) vernacular schools, the Moslem Malays dislike it, and very much prefer to read their own language in the Arabic character. The Bible Society sold, in one year, more than 10,000 Scriptures in Arabic Malay, and the Press in Singapore has deliberately chosen to print its apologetic tracts in Arabic script, though the Roman may be used for books for the Christian community. Christian literature in the Malay language then, so far, has made a start in two directions : (i) For the mixed groups, such as the mixed races who ^ W. G. Shellabear. The Moslem World, October, 1919. [142] MALAYSIA AND THE PHILIPPINES speak “Low Malay” in Java, or the Chinese who speak “Baba Malay” in British territory, the beginnings have been made of a literature for Church and home. There are hymnbooks, first efforts at stories and biographies from the Bible. “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Stories of Queen Victoria,” “Florence Nightingale,” “Black Beauty.” These things as yet can be counted on the fingers and the hunger is great. (2) For the Moslems who demand “High Malay” printed in Arabic Script, are the beginnings of an apologetic literature; three controversial tracts from the Nile Mission Press, and two from the Christian Literature Society for India. Three of Miss Trotter’s parables, two sketches of Christian lives, and a “Pilgrim’s Progress,” now, alas, out of print, about a dozen leaflet tracts, stories of Paul and a life of Joseph, and four or five other evangelistic booklets pro¬ duced by Malaysia missionaries. These are almost the whole library that we offer to our Moslem brothers in that whole island world. The readers are hungry. The Press has ade¬ quate plant, “the only limitation is financial as regards THE PRODUCTION, AND LACK OF QUALIFIED MISSIONARIES, INDIGENOUS AND FOREIGN TO DO THE WRITING AND EDITORIAL WORK.^^ Was there ever a clearer challenge to the Church? IV. Literature Needed The greatest needs fall under two main types : ( I ) First a literature for the young, and for home read- ; ing; a literature with a warm human interest, giving the message of Christ for human life, without special reference to Islamic tenets. “Christian literature should be expository, presenting the higher standards of morality contained in the Bible. It should not, however, be confined to evangelistic tracts, sermon litera¬ ture and Bible histories as is the case at present to a great extent. A more interesting style of literature, and something more up-to-date is greatly needed, especially to reach readers in the villages in the interior of Java and Sumatra, and along [143] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM the coasts and rivers of the Malay Peninsula, and wherever the British and Dutch Governments have vernacular schools. The outstanding need is for stories with a high moral tone for the young people who can read but have no interesting reading matter. We need stories with a strong Christian influence.” (2) Secondly a literature of Christian apology meeting the special difflculties of the Malay Moslem. “There is a great lack of literature adapted to dispel the misconceptions of the Moslems in regard to Christianity.” Gottfried Simon, in his great book “The Progress and Arrest of Islam in Su¬ matra,” pictured for the Church how Christianity looks to the animist-turned-Moslem in the land of perpetual summer. The difficulties that weigh with him form a challenge to the penmen of Christ. Here are some of them : ^ “The heathen-Mohammedan has always heard the Chris¬ tian described as an infidel. The Christian is represented to him as unclean. Christianity is said to be out of date because Islam is the more recent revelation. It is set forth also as a false doctrine; for example its Trinitarian teachings are rep¬ resented as polytheistic. It is reproached for having no 'Urn. For while the word ‘magic’ may carry a note of reproach to our ears, it represents to the Moslem a learning and knowledge that is supramundane, and to the sometime animist the most vital force in religion. Christianity is also a religion identified with foreigners, a foreign religion. The eschatological sig¬ nificance of the reproach is full of dread, for animism and Islam unite in projecting into the next world all the invidious distinctions of race of the present life; one would thus be cut off from his ancestors. Furthermore the current impres¬ sion everywhere is that Islam is the winning religion.” Here then is a challenge to Christian thinkers with the teacher’s gift, who shall prepare the defence of their Master against the misconceptions of this half-animist half-Moslem world. It is possible that a simple apologetic planned for this " Summariied from an article by Dr. C. R. Watson in The Moslem World, April, 1913. [144] MALAYSIA AND THE PHILIPPINES island world may be of use also along all the marches where Islam is superimposed on animism. THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS At the moment in the world’s history when, in the west, Constantinople fell to the Turks, Islam established herself in her most easterly kingdom, among the people of the Sulu Archipelago and the Moros, the dreaded Malay pirates who harried the Philippines. “Previously, the islanders wor¬ shipped idols and the spirits of the dead, and devoured pigs, rats and snakes. Now, while they read and revere the Koran, they understand very few words, and the Koran has not been translated into the dialect.” (R. T. McCutchen). Literacy is steadily increasing, but there is hardly any reading matter. There are some old manuscripts which are a medley of magic and quotations and the Koran. The Mohammedanism of the Philippines, like that throughout Malaysia, seems to be strong in the magic element. The first Christian literature for these late-born Moslems was made by the Jesuits in Jolo, who translated and distributed the Catechism in the middle of the i8th century. In addition to the educational work of the American Gov¬ ernment, Bishop Brent included Christian literature among the tasks of his mission to the islands. He founded at Zamboanga a printing press operated by Moro boys. Besides New Testament translations in Sulu this press publishes a monthly newspaper, the Surat Habar Sing Sug. It en¬ deavours to give the news of the world in a form that would be interesting to the Moslems together with some simple Christian teaching. [145] Chapter VIII LITERATURE FOR MOSLEMS IN CHINA Missionaries report that the use of Arabic litera¬ ture has opened the door to the personal touch with mullahs with whom previously they had no point of contact. Requests have been received for copies of any new Christian publications in Arabic, and ap¬ plications for grants of such as were already avail¬ able. Manuscripts in Arabic, the work of Chinese mullahs, have been received and forwarded to Cairo for suitable reply. Some of these have dealt trench¬ antly with Christian belief and required very carefid answering. The testimony of friends in Egypt, authorities in Arabic, should be noted: ‘^The manu¬ scripts are ably prepared and well written — ‘‘The Christian Occupation of China,” 1922. There are as many Moslems in China as in Turkey or Persia. They are long-standing members of the community, looking back, some say, to invasions from Bokhara which first introduced Islam in the west, about 1070. Islam is also said to have entered Canton by sea at an even earlier date ; but its main progress was always in the west. The two chief centres of the Moslem faith in China are the western provinces of Yunnan on the south and Kansu on the north, while, between them, the great Szechuan province has many Moslem communities. These provinces of the marches are linked up by ancient trade-routes with the whole Moslem world of Central Asia. Across the continent come teachers with Arabic or Persian books in their saddle-bags, and these find pupils in the Chinese mosques. Not only in the western provinces, their main habitat, are the Chinese Moslems found, but in the capital their mosques [146] [147] MOSLEMS IN CHINA have been reckoned at 32, most of which have a mullah or “ahong” able to read at least the Koran in Arabic. We were told at one time of a Turk, an ex-student of El-Azhar, who had a school of Arabic studies in Peking. Even among the Chinese under Japanese rule in Formosa a few Moslems may be found. But it is in the western provinces that the Moslems live their own life, never forgetting that the Chinese among whom they have their home are aliens from the commonwealth of the true faith. They never give their daughters to the un¬ believer, but they sometimes take Chinese girl children into their homes, that they may become Moslem. They are not a comfortable element in Chinese life, for as Mr. Hutson of Szechuan writes, ‘Hhe Moslem still regards himself as be¬ longing to an alien people, and as superior to his Chinese neighbour. He is a religious fanatic, tempered and mellowed by an adverse environment. The Chinese hate the Moslems as turbulent and truculent foes. The Moslems in return despise the Chinese as inferior in race and religion. The Chinese have humbled but not subjected the Moslems; they still possess a superabundance of energy and abnormal as¬ pirations.” Some of these aspirations have of late pushed them towards a reform movement and there is much talk among them of the “old religion” and the “new.” The Chinese report says : “There is a distinct movement towards reform amongst Moslems in China at present. This looks to the conservation of Islam, but yet it gives to the Moslem mind a measure of receptivity to new truth.” One sign of the movement has been a plan to translate the Koran (“The Heavenly Classic”) into Chinese. Chinese Moslems had possessed it in Arabic for nearly 1000 years before they were piqued by European activity to translate it for their own people. “Foreigners have translated the Koran into English, German, French, etc.,” they said. “Must we say that there are no Chinese to do it?” Societies such as the Moslem Young Men’s Association produce Moslem literature [148] MOSLEMS IN CHINA in Shanghai which circulates as far as Turkestan. All such movements tend to do away with the past blind acceptance of the work of Liu Chi, a Chinese scholar of Arabic descent, who used seventy Arabic works in preparing his compilations (A Life of the Prophet, etc.) which have been the standard Moslem works of China for two centuries.^ The new re¬ form movements give hope of greater open-mindedness in a people whom western missionaries have found personally friendly, — as to fellow aliens and fellow foes of idolatry, — but utterly supercilious to the message of the gospel. /. Existing Christian Literature There are perhaps six missionaries in China set apart for work among the eight million Moslems, and behind these is a Committee of the National Christian Council, whose business is to provide the necessary literature, help and encouragement for the handful of men who are facing this peculiarly difficult task. It is worthy of note by other countries that four full members of this Committee are Chinese. In the general Christian Literature Committee for all China the rule has been adopted that half the members must be Chinese. The committee did not come into being until isolated work¬ ers had tried to meet the need. At first tracts in Arabic were procured from the Nile Mission Press, Egypt, and are still used for such as can read that language ; then tracts in Chinese were composed or translated by the Rev. F. E. Rhodes, and several other missionaries, while a Chinese pastor in Kansu issued a booklet in rhyme. On the formation of the committee it was found that a good deal of preparatory work was still necessary. The Moslem community had adopted a whole vocabulary of re¬ ligious terms, many of them transliterations from Arabic and Persian, and quite unintelligible to the ordinary Chinese. To use the terms adopted by the Chinese Christian Church was to be at once unintelligible and offensive to the Moslem. Ac- ^ See list of these works Chinese Recorder, October, 1917. [149] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM cordingly it was necessary to collect the Moslem vocabulary of China, as a preliminary to writing further literature. A List of Chinese Moslem Terms has been prepared by the Rev. I. Mason, with a vocabulary of important religious terms and also transliterations from Arabic used by the Chinese for the names of saints or prophets or the “Names of God.” The Committee also found that the Chinese Church, and the missionary body, whose attention was absorbed by the other religions of China with their overwhelming numbers, were to a great extent ignorant of the needs of Chinese Moslems, and how to help them. The Committee therefore arranged for the publication of a small primer on Islam by Dr. Zwemer, dedicated to the Church of Christ in China. The Rev. I. Mason also wrote a Life of Mohammed in Chinese, a summary of the material found in standard works. This was intended both for the education of the Christian Church, and also to give Moslems in China a more correct and historic view of the Prophet than that found in the miraculous life written by Liu Chi, two hundred years ago. The available literature now published consists of some two books of over fifty pages, and about forty tracts of smaller size, besides Scripture portions for free distribution. A bi-lingual form, Arabic-Chinese, is sometimes used effectively for people who reverence Arabic as their religious tongue, but do not read it with much understanding. The literature so far provided is almost entirely translation, preference being given to material in narrative form, like Sweet First Fruits and Riches that fail not, Ghulam JahbaFs Renunciation, and Miss Trotter’s parables. Syria, India, and North Africa have thus contributed to China. But translation has not been slavish. The effort has been to make the books Chinese. Thus when Mr. Goldsack’s God in Islam was translated by the Rev. D. McGillivray, comments were added at the end of each chapter, by one of the committee’s critics. In this way Mr. Ma Tang-po, who was once himself a Moslem, has given his own personal testimony regarding the subject of each chapter. This has made the book much more than a translation, for it now contains an original record of Chinese experience. [150] MOSLEMS IN CHINA In an artistic country a beginning has been made to utilise eye-gate. A poster on the “The Light of the World” has been designed. Bookmarkers in Arabic and Chinese, with Scrip¬ ture texts in fine penmanship on blue and pink paper have also been issued. 11. Literature Needed After a few years of experience, the committee feels that it is only at the beginning of its task. It desires close co¬ operation with workers in other lands; Arabic and Persian literature it can use among the teachers and religious leaders. Copies of the Arabic evangelistic magazine, Beshair es Salam circulate in the west. Such opportunities are found chiefly in Kansu and Sinkiang, where the work of the Chinese Com¬ mittee for Moslem Work joins hands with the work of the Swedish Mission for the Moslems whose language is Sart Turki or Qazaq. (See chapter IV, Literature for Turanian Moslems). The committee is anxious to secure English originals of work written for the Moslems of other countries, for translation or adaptation, and on this side of its work it looks forward to the help of some central bureau. It is not the intention of the committee to publish a gen¬ eral Christian literature. In Moslem countries where there is no other Christian press, that cannot be neglected. But in China, once the prejudice against Christian terms and Christian thought is broken down, the Moslem can share the general Christian literature of the country. The recent Chinese Literary Survey shows that this now consists (as far as the Protestant Churches are concerned) of ii88 books and 1152 booklets, of which it is reckoned that seventy per cent are living and selling. Even when allowance is made for works in varying dialects, and for a large number of denomi¬ national hymnbooks and catechisms (these last number eighty- one!) of only local circulation, it is yet manifest that the new Christian in China is better off than his brother in many [151] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM lands, as regards books to guide him in Christian thought and practice. The committee for work among Moslems has preparatory work to do for those Moslems who are not in a position to understand the terminology in Christian books, and who will only be insulted if offered the Christian apologetic provided for their “idolatrous” neighbours. One missionary of ex¬ perience suggests that a special edition of some of the books of the Bible might be prepared for Moslems in China, since some of the terms in the Chinese Bible translation are very offensive to Moslems. Whether or no a fresh version is necessary, there is at least the need for an edition, with simple comments, explaining offensive terms. Another writes “I am of opinion that Moslem women and children are the most neglected class in the Szechuan province.” For these women, usually kept in stricter seclusion than their Chinese sisters, the only specially prepared literature is a catechism of thirty pages in the very simplest language. Another writes, “We need something to help Moslems to realise that true religion is not simply a creed or ceremonial, but a devout life, lived in humble dependence upon God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ.” The China committee of the present Survey gives the whole situation in a poignant paragraph : “To sum up, there are some 8,000,000 Moslems in China and not more than six missionaries devoting their full time to the work. That is, amongst a population larger than Lon¬ don or New York there are not more than half a dozen Chris¬ tian workers. This sufficiently indicates the need for more work being done for Moslems in China. A glance at the table of literature issued for Moslems shows that less than one dollar would purchase a copy of every book issued for Moslems in China. This sufficiently indicates the need for the preparation of more literature.” Chapter IX CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR MOSLEMS IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES Never before has the crisis been so acute. The Moslem advcmce in Africa is so extensive, so con¬ stant, and so rapid that the speedy evangelisation of the pagan people there is the most urgent work upon which the Church is now invited to enter. If it is not done without delay, large parts of Africa will be almost irretrievably lost, for her teeming millions will have entered into the fold of Islam. — Rev. Canon E. Sell, D.D., of Madras. The reports of the survey dealing with African areas differ from all the rest. While they cover a greater number of languages they report on far fewer books. And they raise certain questions of book production, which although felt elsewhere, here assume their acutest form. The great difficulty of Christian literature, as of all evangel¬ isation in Africa, has been called “The Problem of a Thousand Tribes.” The phrase is no exaggeration. “Between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Guinea,” writes Mr. W. J. W. Roome, “and on to Senegal there must be some thousand tribes or sub¬ tribes within the three catalogues of “Moslem,” “Semi- Moslem” and “Raw-Pagan.” Impossible to build a Christian literature for the dialect of every tribelet! On what basis, then, shall the selection be made, of those African languages which are to have an artificial aid to survival and dominance by becoming the language of never so simple an education and a literature? Humanly speaking, on the answer to such a question hang the spiritual destinies of Africa. In the history of literature the first primer and hymnbook C153] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM for an African tribe may be a thing of naught. In the spir¬ itual history of mankind it may be momentous; for the study of little languages which have no literary history, and no prospect of making literary history, takes on a spiritual sig¬ nificance, when just such little tongues may be either the growing points of Islam or the points of its arrest. From the point of view of the present survey, those African languages take precedence which have become Moslem tongues, or which are so situated that their Christianisation would make them barrier languages, stemming the spread of Islam among the pagan tribes. It is necessary then to enquire what language areas are at present acting as canals to conduct Islam further and yet further into Africa. For we have here one of the great movements of the age, as wide as a continent, yet so incoherent and well-nigh unconscious as to win scant attention. 1. Swahili Districts Starting from the East Coast, at any point between Mo¬ zambique on the south and Italian Somaliland on the north, we find Swahili ^ in possession, the lingua franca of the coast towns. This is by far the most widely flung of the languages related to the Bantu stock. It has travelled up all the slave routes of the past and all the railways of to-day, and is found as far inland as the Belgian Congo among natives who have come under Arab influence. The Moslems of the Comoro Islands and many of those of Madagascar also use this speech. In phonetics and grammar it is Bantu, but permeated with Arabic terms and thought, and laden besides with Indian and Portuguese and even with German and English words. On the eastern side of Africa, the Swahili tongue of the Arab or Indian trader, and the advance of Islam have gone together. With Swahili, too, goes the Arabic alphabet, though it is not certain how long these have been wedded, and the marriage is unhappy, the Latin alphabet being fitter for Swahili ^ From the Arabic word for “Coast Dwellers.” [154] AFRICAN LANGUAGES phonetics. Miss Alice Werner tells us that no Swahili manu¬ scripts of more than a century old have come to light, though some of the poetry of the language dates back many centuries, the Inkishafi being certainly earlier than the advent of the Portuguese in 1498. Swahili has never been the language of a great printed literature, but it has a mass of the stuff of literature in a great body of popular verse. “Much of this,” says Miss Werner, “was once written, and fresh manuscripts are continually being brought to light. But much of it is oral, being either handed down by tradition or continually produced afresh; for song and improvisation are as much a part of the people’s life as they used to be in Italy. Most of the popular poetry and all the written poetry differs from that of the non-Islamised Bantu by possessing a distinct system of rhyme and metre.” This language, “the spear-head of Islam” in Africa, has from early days challenged the attention of missionaries. The first Swahili dictionary was written by Dr. Krapf of the C.M.S. Bishop Steere of the Universities’ Mission wrote the first grammatical exercises for language students; and since his day a library of about 55 Christian books has come into existence through missionary scholarship. “It is a triumph,” it has been said, “to be able to express in a Bantu language ‘subjunctive mood’ or ‘division by factors,’ and still more of a triumph to use exact theological terms.” As compared with other African languages this output of books is remarkable, and places Swahili as the fourth literary language of the con¬ tinent, European languages and Arabic being excluded. But when spread over all the purposes for which the Christian Church needs books, a total of fifty-five is scanty enough. The literature produced has been chiefly for the education of the growing Church and the training of African students for the Christian ministry. A diocesan magazine Lenga gua is edited in this language, and last year a new Commentary on Romans appeared, while one of the last books published is a Commentary on the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. Several books have been written to inform the Christian Church in this part of Moslem Africa [155] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM about the nature of Islam. They include a Life of Mohammed by Canon Dale, and a little book of Information about Arabs and M ohamme danism. To these may soon be added a Swahili version of the Koran by Canon Dale of Zanzibar. Christian hymns in Swahili have been found a powerful evangelistic force, but no Christian poet has arisen to write the Gospel stories in the type of popular verse in which most of the Moslem literature is composed. It is thought that a special issue for Moslems of the book of Proverbs in Swahili might have great appeal. At a conference held at Dar-Es-Salam by missionaries in East Africa just before the war, to consider Moslem evangelisation, the creation of a strong Swahili lit¬ erature was considered an imperative necessity. The Berlin Mission began the circulation of a Swahili magazine in German East Africa, where no district is untouched by Islam. These things all await fulfilment. II. Yao and Nyanja Districts Coast-men and native officials have carried Islam all through Yaoland as far as the south and east of Lake Nyassa. The Yaos, one of the most powerful tribes east of the Lakes have practically adopted Islam as their religion. “There is in almost every village,” writes a missionary, “a mosque or a Moslem teacher. These, if foreign, marry native women. There are perhaps half a dozen men in the country who can read the Koran intelligently and explain to the people the meaning of the Arabic texts. In addition to these, there are hundreds of Moslems who have their own copies of the Koran, and can read them too, but understand next to nothing of what they read.” It is reckoned that one out of every ten of the people between the coast and Lakes Nyassa and Shirwa is a Moslem, while Islam also wheels round to south of Lake Nyassa and extends up to Kota Kota, which was of old noted as a slave export place, and is now a Moslem centre. The strongest barrier against further penetration of the continent by Islam in this direction is the Christian life of the [156] AFRICAN LANGUAGES tribes connected with the Scottish missions south and west of the Lake. For reading matter to reach the few illiterate Moslems of these parts, or to help the African Church to reach them, the two most important languages are Nyanja and Yao. Nyanja is one of the progressives among African languages, with a printed literature of forty volumes, one of which deals definitely with Islam. Yao has importance as the language of the dominant Moslem tribe. “We accept it as good policy,” writes a missionary, “that if possible literature concerning Islam should be in Yao.” The mission of the South African Dutch Reformed Church is now setting apart one worker who shall make the Moslems of Nyassaland (numbering perhaps 75,000) his care and prepare the neces¬ sary literature. III. U ganda Luganda may be regarded as one of the barrier languages to the spread of Islam, having become the speech of a branch of the Christian Church which throws out missions among the surrounding animistic tribes of mountain and forest and into the valley of the infant Nile, — tribes often differing from the Baganda missionaries at least as much as the southern Europeans differ from the Dutch or Danes. Luganda has a Christian literature of over sixty books, an unusually generous supply for an African language. “Some of them,” says the report, “are very good indeed.” One of the earliest books published in Luganda bears witness to the fact that the pioneer missionaries had to meet Moslem oppo¬ sition ; for the Arab trader was already in the land and showed himself uniformly hostile to the Christian advance. This is George Pilkington’s Anonya Alaba, (“He who seeketh findeth”) which contains one or two chapters for Moslems in a sympathetic controversial style. The last books published were one by Dr. A. R. Cook on venereal disease and one by Archdeacon Baskerville on Levitical sacrifices. [157] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM The 78,000 Moslems of Uganda to-day are of two types prevalent all over East Africa, — traders of foreign or partly foreign birth, and converts of pure African pagan stock. For the first, Swahili literature (and sometimes even literature in Arabic or in Indian languages) is needed. The second are as ignorant as their pagan neighbours. Probably less than one per cent of them can read any Arabic at all. Their thought- world has not changed with their conversion to Islam, and missionary experience shows that those who can be persuaded to read need just the same instruction as their brothers from the animistic cults. At Mengo hospital, in a district con¬ taining 41,500 Moslems, where baptisms of Moslem patients are not infrequent, the Moslems share the same course of teaching and the same mateka (reader) with the rest. IV. A byssinia From the time when the first fifty Moslem converts fled for refuge to Abyssinia the Christian Church of that country, then three centuries old, has had a strange, dark history of struggle, in almost complete isolation from the thought and life of the rest of Christendom. Her one close contact with western Christendom was in the sixteenth century, when the Portuguese rescued her empire, almost extinguished by the harrying of Moslem invaders. The chapter of Portuguese Jesuit missions that followed, convinced Abyssinia that the Christians who rescued her desired to subjugate her to another Church. Bitterly resentful, she closed her doors from that day to our own against any outside form of mission work. But they were not closed to Moslem caravans collecting slaves, and she became a passage-way for the African slave-trade. Invasion and trade penetration have left Abyssinia to-day with a Moslem population equal to one third of all her people,^ and religious freedom was granted to her Moslem subjects in 1889. These Ethiopian Moslems have carried their faith beyond their ^The total population according to the Statesman’s Year Book, 1921, is 8,000,000. Some have placed it as high as 11,000,000. [158] AFRICAN LANGUAGES own borders. In Eritrea and the three Somalilands, Gallas and Danakils from Abyssinia are a strong Moslem influence, reaching indeed as far south as Zanzibar. With the exception of the Coptic Church, which appoints the Abyssinian Patriarch, the rest of Christendom has until recently been singularly powerless to help this sister Church, situated closer than any other to the sacred centre of Islam. Swedish and American missions have long pressed up to the frontier on north and west; but the old defensive bar against Missions from outside has only recently been lifted through the mediation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, whose agent Mr. C. T. Hooper obtained the permission and the blessing of the Patriarch for the sale of the Scriptures, in the capital, in the language of modern speech. This it seems, has led to something like a rediscovery of the New Testament within this ancient African Church. Accounts are vague but it is said that 500 teachers of the Scriptures have been ap¬ pointed, and that the Church is evangelising Abyssinian Moslems, some notable converts from Islam being among the leaders of the movement. It appears that this movement is in part due to a political revolt, but it seems more than merely political. A writer in The Moslem World says: ^‘During recent years there has been a most encouraging religious movement in the interior of Abyssinia, especially among the Moslems. It is said that about 10,000 have re¬ ceived Christian baptism from the Abyssinian Church during the last five or six years. The Rev. J. J. Jwarson of the Swedish mission in Eritrea says that the centre of the move¬ ment is at Sokota in the Amhara country, where the apostle of the Christian movement, the ex-sheikh Zaccaria, now called Noaye Kristos, is established. Two of his disciples, Alaka Paulos of Tigrai and Alaka Petros of Sakota, also ex-sheikhs, visited the Swedish Mission recently to acquire copies of the Holy Scriptures and to consolidate their acquaintance with evangelical Christians.” Another sign of changing times is that the American (United Presbyterian) Mission has been able to establish [159] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM itself at Sayo and hopes to plant hospital work at Gore. This pioneer work has not yet produced any literature for the Moslems of Abyssinia, but makes use of the slender store of literature in Galla produced by the Swedish Mission in Eritrea. The Swedish society, working on the borders of Abyssinia, has also published in Amharic commentaries on St. Matthew and St. John, together with three books of simple Bible stories or instruction, two short general histories, a book of psalms with tunes, and half a dozen tracts. > V. T he Egyptian Sudan and Belgian C ongo From Abyssinia, starting out to cross the continent from east to west, we reach the Egyptian Sudan, and here at once we face “the problem of the thousand tribes.” Over this vast territory the population of nearly three and a half million is spread at an average of only two or three to the square mile. Here the loth parallel of latitude forms a vague border line be¬ tween the Arabic language with its enormous literary and Mos¬ lem prestige, and the little tongues of the yet pagan tribes. El Fasher has been called “one of the most cosmopolitan towns of native Africa,” but amid its motley crowds the Arab race and Arab tongue prevails, and the tendency is for the Nile, with the steady transport secured by British rule, to act as a great canal along which Arabic and Islam may press together. As far as Arabic is concerned, the Sudan looks to Egypt for her literature. Egyptian newspapers find circulation there, and so, with careful co-operation may Arabic Christian litera¬ ture. But “the missionaries,” says the report, “unanimously deprecate teaching Arabic to the pagan tribes, as it is the medium for Moslem propaganda.” “We emphasize,” the report continues, “the importance of reducing some of the pagan languages to writing. It is the judgment of some mis¬ sionaries working in Swahili districts that if this were done in phonetic alphabet, rather than in the Arabic script, it would raise a double barrier against Islam. Such literature if of a simple and attractive character would be of great value.” This [i6o] AFRICAN LANGUAGES then is the literary task of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and the pioneer missions have taken it in hand. Shulla (spoken by approximately 800,000), Dinka (spoken by about the same number) and Nuer (about 900,000) are being reduced to writing, and Gospels have already been printed. The Bari and Acholi languages are also being studied. These isolated missions in the Sudan, pushing southwards to meet the Christian outposts pushing northwards from Uganda, form, (with the stations of the Heart of Africa Mission working upwards from the Belgian Congo,) the thinnest of thin barriers, measured by human standards, against the steady southward spread of Islam among the pagan tribes. And in a sense the barrier is built too late, for just beyond it, on the south, lies Stanleyville, and here, having worked their way down the lower waters of the Lualaba on the line of trade from Tanganyika, is a settlement of perhaps 50,000 Moslems. These Moslems of the Belgian Congo show their kinship with their brethren of the East Coastal regions by speaking a language which is a local version of Swahili. Mr. W. J. Roome regards this Kingwana language as fourth of all the East African tongues in importance for those who would make a literature that shall reach Moslems. Nothing has yet been done. VI. The Shari-Chad Protectorate (IVadai) West of the Egyptian Sudan, and presenting many of the same administrative difficulties, is the great Shari-Chad pro¬ tectorate of France, with the same scant population of two or three to the square mile. “Here,” writes Mr. Roome, “the pagans are largely holding out against Islam and it appears that the Government would welcome Christian missions among their five million people.” There is not as yet any Christian missionary in the protectorate. But just as the Nile Valley, under British security, became more than ever a canal for the peaceful penetration of Islam, so, under French protection, the valley of the Shari has become such another [161] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM canal. A settled stream of Islam passes 'down, connecting the Shari with Bangui, and a few Moslems find their way down the Ubangi to the main Congo River.” VII. T he Sahara It must always be born in mind that for Islam the Sahara is not a barrier but a habitat. The reverberations of a blow struck at Islam in Algeria or Morocco are sure to be felt in Bomu or Senegal. This has been true since the days when the expulsion of the Moors from Spain gave an impetus to the growth of Moslem empires and Moslem propaganda in .West Africa. On all the fringes of the Sahara languages once pagan are thoroughly Islamised, borrowing in vocabulary from Arabic, as they tighten their contact with the dominant faith. Such are the group of Berber languages, found in Morocco, Algeria and Tripoli especially among mountaineers of the various Atlas ranges. “Through the whole of the western Sahara, races once Berber in speech have become Arabicised since the I2th or 13th centuries. This widespread Arabic Moslem culture must not be forgotten. Among the various tribes of Mauretania, the Hodh and the Senegal, there is a growing and wide-spread desire for Arabic literacy. Besides the educational influence of the Zcmias ^ on the “brothers” (Ikhwan or Muridin) of the various dervish Orders, the children also, boys and girls, without exception receive primary education in the Zawias. They learn the Koran by heart and know how to read and write. The dervish Sheikh aims at “opening to them new horizons.” In the order of Ida-ou-‘Ali, instruction is widely spread, libraries numerous and well-furnished. Even the black Marabouts on the lower Senegal “hold it as a point of honour, of conscience and religious duty to teach the children, in return for their labour, at least the letters of the Arabic alphabet, and certain formulas of prayer and passages of the Koran.” In the * The word is here used of the prayer center of a branch of one of the Dervish orders. [162] [163] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM sparse library of the Zcmna of Bou-Kounta was found a Gospel of St. Mark in Arabic.^ But in the centre and east of the Sahara, over great tracts of territory, the Berbers, thanks to their comparative isolation, never became submerged in the Arabic world. They remained Berber and are the modern Touareg. In the Niger region, at the northern bend of the river, the Aouelimmiden also preserve the old Berber stock and speech, and are closely akin to the Touareg in manner of life. On the Senegal, another Berber group is found in the Senegal.” {North African Report.) The same report, speaking of the to 5 million Berbers of Algeria and Morocco, whose old speech still persists before the dominant Arabic and French, says: ‘‘The Arabo-Berber race is vigorous, and with the sup¬ pression of inter-tribal warfare and greater development of agriculture and industry, there is likely to be a great increase in the native population in the next half century. French will probably in time become the literary language of the Berbers. But those who learn French will be able to read literature in their own Berber tongue in Roman characters, and those who learn to read Arabic will be able to read their own Berber dialect in Arabic character. In the various Berber agglomera¬ tions the Berber dialects will stand first as a means of spread¬ ing the Gospel. It is doubtful, however, if an extensive j. . ^efature beyond the simplest will ever be developed in these dialects. Taking the north of Africa as a whole, the Berber dialects are so many that it would be difficult to produce anything like uniformity in them.” ® “In the early days of Islam in North Africa, efforts were made to produce religious literature in Berber. Two attempts to compose an entirely Berber Koran after the model of Mohammed’s are known. The Ibadhiya also had religious works in Berber, now translated into Arabic. To-day the Berber literature is oral. Its value resides in the fact that it reveals the soul of the people, and presents models of what the Christian literature in Berber ought to be, as to form. It * See “Revue du Monde Musulman/’ 1915-16, pp, 53, 261, 425. ® See Henri Basset, “Essai sur la Literature des Berberes.” [164] AFRICAN LANGUAGES consists of the Qdnun, or Customary Law found among all Berber groups, of tales and legends and of popular poetry and songs. These are a mine of folk-lore most useful to the missionary. There is a call to evangelical Christianity to study, alongside French and native scholars, the oral literature of this most interesting people, and the mentality revealed therein, and to learn how all that is distinctive of the race may be preserved and utilised in their Christianisation. LITERATURE EXISTENT The production of Christian literature has only touched the northernmost fringe of the Berber people. The whole of the Bible has been translated into Kabyle, and portions of Scripture into Riff, Soussi and Shilha. In Kabyle is also a hymnbook, a Bible-catechism, a story by A.L.O.E., a tract on repentance and a few Scripture leaflets. Further Kabyle literature, which has been prepared but is awaiting publication, includes Daily Light, five of Dr. Rouse’s Tracts, Outline Life of St. Paul, Christ in all the Scriptures. Beginnings were made in scientific work on Touareg by M. Motylinski of the Ecole des Lettres, Algiers. When his work was published after his death by his friend M. Rene Basset, there was incorporated with it a considerable amount of material amassed by the saintly hermit of the Sahara, the French Roman Catholic pioneer priest Charles de Foucauld, who desired that his scientific work should remain anonymous. When Pere de Foucauld died, he left a Touareg dictionary and other valuable manuscripts on Berber philology. His work included a translation of the Gospels and a collection of Touareg poems and proverbs.® LITERATURE NEEDED ‘‘Whatever is produced in Kabyle, the best known and probably the purest of the Berber dialects, could be put into any of the others. ® See Rene Bazin, Charles de Foucauld, Explorateur du Maroc, Ermite au Sahara. [165]. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM The more popular literature should be about the same for Berber as for colloquial Arabic. We need an abundant literature of story and parable, espe¬ cially in verse. Short concise tracts in Kabyle (both Latin and Arabic script) on (i) Sin, what is it? (2) God’s mind concerning sin. (3) Why did Christ come? (4) What did Christ do? etc. We also want bilingual tracts in Kabyle and French for boys and for men : Other needs include : Pictorial Sunday school literature. A few short biographies Pilgrim's Progress (perhaps abridged) Simple Scripture Histories A Simple Church History How we got our Bible Sermon on the Mount, in tract form.” {North African Report.) Fill. T he Southern Sudan, Northern Nigeria Islam has long been dominant in the upper bend of the Niger and across the fertile tracts south of the Sahara, the home of Moslem empires of the past. The Kanuris of Bornu were once a dominant people, as were also the Hausas, whose language has been called the Urdu of West Africa. These gave way at the dawn of the nineteenth century to conquer¬ ing Fulanis, before whose onrush the still independent pagan kingdom of the Nupes went down, and became nominally Moslem. The tide of this Moslem invasion broke on the Yorubas. They lost some of Their northern territory, then rallied with a resistance which saved Southern Nigeria from Islam. The present boundary between Northern and Southern Nigeria is practically the line at which Moslem invasion was stayed. It was stayed, but not for long. Soon the Pax Britannica compelled the tribes to submit to the peaceful penetration of Moslem traders and officials. ‘‘British sur¬ veyors,” says Mr. Roome, “made the roads, British police guard them, and a fanatical Moslem passes along comfortably [166] AFRICAN LANGUAGES and safely. The pagan knows that under this same protection he is safe from Moslem slave-raidings, and therefore he does not oppose the Moslem as in old days.” So the Niger valley, like those of the Nile and the Shari, is a canal for the south¬ ward passage of Islam. The task of the literature missionary is a double one. There are before him Moslem languages like Hausa and Nupe, and there is also the medley of pagan or only half-Islamised tribal tongues. It is reckoned that there are perhaps 200 lan¬ guages and lesser dialects in Northern Nigeria alone. Of these languages only Hausa and Nupe have the small beginnings of a Christian literature other than Scripture portions. Hausa is the more developed, with the New Testa¬ ment, Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah, Pil¬ grim's Progress, The Holy War, parts of the Prayer Book, Life of Plants, a hymnal, school readers, and Dr. Rouse’s tracts on Mohammedanism. The present policy in Hausaland is to train the small Christian community in English, so that the next generation of the Church will be able to read English literature. Apart from Hausa and Nupe the languages of Northern Nigeria have no Christian literature except Gospels, with occasionally a few Old Testament stories or a primer or a hymnbook. The average number of Christian books in each language in which a beginning has been made is only three. A missionary writes of the general situation : “A huge wave of materialism, un¬ checked by the stronger influences of Christianity, is pouring in and swamping all the social, moral and religious bulwarks of the land. A leading Moslem, a member of one of the oldest Moslem families of Nigeria, said to me recently: ‘Mohammedanism as a real power for good is dead.’ ” The Lagos bookshop opened branches during 192 1-2 at Zaria, Kiduna and Kano, which should reach many of the Moslems of Northern Nigeria, but there is a great dearth of suitable books. “There is little Moslem literature other than the Koran and books on Moslem law,” says the report for West Africa, “and there is practically no Christian literature, apart from the Scriptures, prepared for Moslems. This is [167] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM very much needed and should be of an expository and sympa¬ thetic nature. A basic literature in English and French suit¬ able for translation into the different vernaculars would be very useful and welcome/^ IX. T he West C oast ‘Tew people,” says the report, “realise the immense area of the West Coast from the Niger to Senegambia which is worked by some 53 different Protestant Missionary Societies. These societies have practically no connection with one another and no joint conferences. Distances are very great and all the societies are sadly under-staffed. The majority of mission work in West Africa is among pagan tribes, being much easier and more fruitful than among Moslems in the interior. There are perhaps only one or two stations where work is being carried on solely among Moslems. The progress of Islam is in some places very rapid. Its converts must number thousands every year.” The largest mission printing office on the West Coast is at Lagos and the bookshop connected with it has fourteen branch establishments. Three of the languages of Southern Nigeria (Ibo, Efik, and Yoruba) have an output of Christian books for the church life built up among converts from paganism. Higher education is generally in English and two or three Christian journals circulate in English. Yoruba has the largest Christian literature (about 35 books in all) and this literature takes for granted the Christian background, or if evangelistic, appeals to pagans. But Dr. Rouse’s tracts have been translated into Yoruba and there is a valuable book by the Rev. T. A. J. Ogunbiyi, Converts from Islam, and a trans¬ lation of the Koran into Yoruba made by another African clergyman, the Rev. M. S. Cole, at the suggestion of the members of his congregation in Lagos. Passing westwards along the coast we find a number of small, isolated missions with minute beginnings in Christian literature for pagans. In the majority of the languages the [168] AFRICAN LANGUAGES work, so far, consists of one or two books of the Bible and a hymnbook or reader or catechism. More has been done on the Gold Coast, where the Missions are of long standing; the Twi and Ga languages have the whole Bible and a considerable list of other books. All of these missions, where they ap¬ proach the coast, begin to be conscious of the influence of Moslem traders, while missionaries of the Ahmadiya move¬ ment have appeared on the Gold Coast. A. Senegal and the Western Sudan The small missions of the Paris Society and the Gospel Missionary Union in Senegal feel constantly the influence of the Moslem Sahara. Medine, on the Senegal, is a holy city for all the Moslems of the West Sudan. Islam here has enjoyed government aid, for the government at one time established an Islamic seminary for the training of teachers for Koran schools, and supported nine hundred such schools. This policy gave an impetus to Arabic and to Islam. The Rev. J. A. Mesnard wrote: ‘‘The little island of Goree — the entrepot of French com¬ merce on the coast of Senegal — was a few years ago a stronghold of the Roman Church. The greater part of the shops are now managed by Mohammedans. I sold more than a score of copies of the Arabic Scriptures in the island.” The local languages, Joley, Tula, Bambara and Mosho, overshadowed by a neighbour of such immense prestige as Arabic, are only at the stage of first reduction to writing. Two Gospels and a grammar are almost all that has been produced. XI. General C onclusions ARABIC This language has immense prestige in Africa as far South as the Equator, but it is read intelligently by very few [169] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM indeed outside of the Arabic lands. Yet those few are leading men. It is necessary: (1) To develop better plans for the circulation of Arabic Christian literature in Africa. (2) To produce something in Arabic still shorter and simpler than our ordinary product for Arabic lands. AFRICAN LANGUAGES These present the difficulty of extreme multiplicity of dialect. Beginnings of Christian literature have been made in 123 such languages. None of these are literary languages. ‘‘The largest ‘library’ noted in the Survey would barely fill a 3 ft. bookshelf, while the average one could easily be carried in a pocket handkerchief,” and the books published by missions are generally the sum total of literature produced in these languages. In Persia or China, literature can travel and work where there is no missionary. In Africa it can only follow the missionary, who is the teacher of reading as well as of faith. In Swahili, and in Kabyle, and possibly in a few other languages where a system of education is coming into being, and where Moslem thought is dominant, there will be need for the same type of simple literature as is now needed in the various Arabic colloquials. In pagan languages, literature for Moslems may not be necessary. But it must be remembered that any preparation of Christian literature in an African pagan language, as yet untouched by Islam, builds a barrier across which Islam cannot pass. For it is a matter of experience that the building up of a simple literature of daily Christian life for any African tribe makes the language of that tribe a barrier language to the penetration of Islam. The needed literature directly relating to Islam is along two lines. ( I ) The African Christian Church needs to be prepared for the evangelisation of Moslems. A very simple literature (a) showing her what she has in Christ that her Moslem [170] AFRICAN LANGUAGES brother misses, and (b) informing her about the nature, his¬ tory, and extent of Islam, and her own place in the task of evangelisation, will be needed wherever an established Chris¬ tian Church comes into contact with advancing Islam. (2) The African Moslem, born a pagan, does not change his thought world when he accepts Islam. He may change the charms he wears, but he still wears charms. Spirits and magic still loom large in his life, but, for him, Islam knows a more powerful magic than his old cult. We have not yet thought out a very simple literature that shall acclaim Christ as triumphant over the whole demon-world; that shall make much of the Gospel stories of the defeat of evil spirits, and the victorious contacts, described in the Acts, of the first Christians with the magic of the age. There may be need for such types of literature as the Breast-plate of St. Patrick written to express Christian freedom and safety in a magic- ridden world. CO-OPERATION The committee of the recent survey of African literature,"^ realising the immense difficulties of local authorship among quite newly-literate churches and understaffed missions, is meeting part of the need by (a) preparing a program for a rudimentary Christian literature in any African language, with books on simple Christian duties, practical explanations of the Bible and of Christian doctrines, and school readers on ele¬ mentary subjects; (b) suggesting suitable books in English, or having manuscripts prepared in English, always with African conditions in view, for translation into African languages desirous of carrying out any part of the suggested programme. So warmly have the missions responded to this help that one reader on hygiene in Africa (first produced on the Congo in French and Congo) circulated by this committee, has been translated into forty-eight languages. The greatest step forward in literature for Moslem evan- ’ To whom we are indebted for co-operation and help in preparing this report. [171]; CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM gelisation would be to secure the inclusion, in the programme of the African Christian Literature Committee, of two types of books concerning Islam : (a) A simpler primer preparing the African Christian Church to evangelise Islam, its emphasis on what Christianity possesses that is not found in Islam, its writer remembering that Islam may first come before the African Christian with the prestige and hauteur of a wealthy, travelled, and from his point of view learned, foreign trading class. (b) A simple literature specially prepared for the African pagan-turned Moslem, who still lives in a world of magic. This could be used for reading where the Moslem is literate, or as a basis for lessons by African teachers and catechists. Such a literature does not up to the present exist in Arabic, where the books are prepared for Moslems with a background of Islamic thought, rather than of animism. It calls for an author who knows African village life, to write in a European language for free translation into various African tongues. If a missionary, understanding the mind of an African pagan- turned-Moslem, were to prepare such literature, it could prob¬ ably, with local changes of vocabulary and colour touches, be used also for the Moslem-animists of the Dutch East Indies and of the Philippines, and even in the Arabic colloquials, among simple folk with whom magical ideas are the most powerful factors in religion. [172] Chapter X CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR MOSLEMS IN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES '^Give us literature and we will show surprising results for Christ and His civilisation," writes one of our enthusiastic workers. Where is the man or woman of wealth who will seize this opportunity? We have had large personal gifts for education and for medicine; who will make a large gift for litera¬ ture? We need those who will finance the publishing of particular hooks; we need those who will make possible the publishing of popidar magazines ; we need, most of all, those who will supplement the general budgets of the literature societies. One fairly envies people of wealth the chance to sefize this opportunity. — Cornelius H. Patton, D.D., in “The International Review of Missions.” North and South America, Great Britain, France, Ger¬ many, Holland, South Africa and Australia all have their Moslem population, drawn there by politics, study or trade.^ There is no great European language without a circle, even if a small one, of Moslem readers to whom its literature is open. These groups of Moslems in the lands of the West are not, however, mere absorbers of western thought; they have an added importance as propagandists of Moslem thought in the languages they have adopted. “Educated Moslems from India, Egypt, Algeria, Persia, Syria and Turkey are now found in considerable numbers in London, Paris, Geneva and Berlin, not to speak of North and South America. Although the total number is small statis- * For statistics of Moslem population see Appendix B. [173] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM tically it is highly influential dynamically because of their use of the press. The cities mentioned have become active centres of Mohammedan propagandism. Educated Moslems, for example such leaders as the Agha Khan, Sayyed Amir ’Ali, and others, are using the daily secular press to advocate not only Moslem politics in such matters as the Khali fate and the future of Turkey, but Moslem ethics and the spread of Islam in Africa and Asia/’ I. French France is very conscious of her great Moslem empire in Africa. A mosque and Moslem institute is being built in Paris. The Paris Municipal Council offered a site for the building, and granted a subsidy for its erection. At the ceremony of inauguration, as representatives of French Moslems, were present the Envoy Extraordinary of the Sultan of Morocco, the Algerian and Tunisian Caids, and the Min¬ ister of the Bey of Tunis, besides representatives of Turkey, the Afghan Amir, and the King of Egypt. The speeches were unanimous in expressing the friendship between the Moslems and France, and dwelt particularly on the great services and loyalty of the French Moslems during the Great War. The Figaro upon this occasion wrote, “One hundred thousand Mussulmans fell in the cause of France during the war. Twenty million followers of the Prophet live under our law or our protection. Every day the number of our African subjects who visit Paris for pleasure, study or business is growing greater.” La Fraternite Musulmane (3 Rue Mogador), is a Moslem mutual aid society, established at Paris (1907), by French¬ men who have turned Moslem, and Moslems from Algiers and elsewhere. The Christians of France have the Moslem question at their very doors, for the present colonial policy, making of Moslem lands French departments overseas, results in great intermingling of populations. Paris is becoming the capital city of the Arab of Tunis as of all French provincials. [174] EUROPEAN LANGUAGES Three Moslem magazines, pan-Islamic in tendency and all of importance, are published in French at Paris : Correspondance d'Orientj bi-monthly (3 Rue Laffitte), containing political correspondence by Moslems from all the Near East, and surveys of conditions social and economic, anti-British and pan-Islamic. Orient et Occident, monthly, (28 Rue Bonaparte), con¬ taining able articles on the solidarity of Islam, Islam and Bolshevism, nationalist movements and Moslem propaganda in Africa. Among the writers in recent numbers are Prince Said Halim, Gervais Courtollemont, Essad Fouad, Ahmed Rustem Bey and Rabindranath Tagore. Echos de V Islam, bi-monthly (24 Rue Taitbout). It is the official organ of the “Bureau dTn formations Islamiques’' and has subscribers in India, Syria, Egypt, Java, Singapore, etc. It is more widely read and quoted than any other western Moslem periodical. Its contents are mostly political and pro- Turkish, emphasising the Franco-Turkish alliance and the pro-Moslem policy of the French government. At the office of this paper, propagandist literature in several languages is on sale. So much for Moslem activity, with its usual blend of the political and the religious, within France itself. That is in the main a call to the Christians of France. But missions of all nationalities in North African lands are concerned with the rapid spread of the French language in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. At the meeting of the Financial Delegations of the Algerian Government in June 1921, the following expression of French policy was made : “In this country the future belongs to the French language. Arabic is evidently a treasure that must be pre¬ served; but only for cultured minds, and not for the masses of the native population. It is instruction in the French language that must be given in profusion, if we wish to draw the Moslem population to us.” To be able to read and write in French gives the right to a native of Algeria of becoming a French citizen, provided he is twenty-five years of age, married to only one wife or [175] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM unmarried, and has never been condemned for a crime which involves loss of political rights. It is hardly surprising then to read, in the North African report of the Survey, that “French is spoken and read by an increasing number of natives in North Africa. The spread of French is due to intercourse with Europeans and to the public education of the schools. French will probably in time become the literary language of the masses of the native population, especially of the Berbers, being the only language that many of them will learn to read. There is no prospect of French replacing Arabic or Berber as spoken languages, but it will be a second language, and essentially the language of culture and new ideas. At the present time there may be from 200,000 to 300,000 who can read French; but these are the most progressive elements of the population and their number will increase very rapidly.” Here lies both an opportunity and a danger. “To those conversant with French all French literature is open. The bad has great influence, pandering as it does to the lowest instincts. There is also the non-Christian free-thinking style of literature, also the popular educational literature, but very little that is decidedly Christian. The French literature current in Algeria is not generally imbued with Christian ideas, but is often of a kind that would tend to drive men away from Christianity.” The same may be said of much of the French literature that enters Egypt, Syria, Constantinople and Persia. That is the danger. It is important therefore to make the best use of current French literature that is Christian in tone. “Mission bookstores,” says the report, “should stock all that is pure and good in French literature, all that makes for indi¬ vidual, family, social and national well-being as well as healthy recreational and instructive literature.” The report cites the following periodicals that might be of use: Le Semeiir (Stu¬ dent Federation), U Eclair eur Unionist e (Boy Scouts), Esperance (Y.M.C.A.), La Jeune Fille (Y.W.C.A.), La Bonne Revue, UAiihe, Le Rayon de Soleil, Journal des Ecoles de Dimanche (33 Rue des Saints Peres, Paris, a monthly [176] EUROPEAN LANGUAGES publication with notes of lessons and leaflets for Sunday school scholars). But a literature, however Christian, intended for French people, cannot meet all the needs of readers brought up in a Moslem environment. To ensure this, books will have to be prepared on the spot. ‘‘We need literature in French prepared for Moslems of all degrees of education, from the simple schoolboy to the man in a liberal profession. What is pro¬ duced in Algeria in French is in modern style and presents well.” The following are mentioned as desiderata, all to be written in view of Moslem life and thought: (a) Life of Christ, Life of Paul, Studies in the lives and work of the Apostles. (b) Books on Bible Study in French, such as Dr. Sell’s Bible Study Text-books or Dr. Campbell Morgan’s Analysed Bible. (c) Catechisms, manual of Church History, short history of the North African Church in French, dealing specially with the chief personages of North African origin. (d) “ Books in French on Christian life and practice do not refer to the conditions here. We need in French examples of conversions from Islam in simple style and showing chiefly the change of heart, life and purpose; and especially something on the Christian ideal of the family. This is all-important in this field.” (e) Scripture pictures are needed with letter-press in French. The French press issues grotesquely comic sheets of coloured pictures with letter-press, often of ques¬ tionable if not low tone. The idea would be a good one to employ for good short stories, even biblical stories. (f) For young men: simple apologetic tracts. (g) For boys: stories from history; papers on arts and crafts; Scripture histories illustrated. ;[i77] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM (h) ^‘Many can read who have no taste for reading except to read the newspapers. Besides the possible use of the newspapers for evangelism, a periodical in which at least a part will be in French is a great necessity and should be an item in our programme of Chris¬ tian literature for this area.” Such a literature, it is pointed out, should be in very simple French. While its principal use would be in North Africa, it might have a much wider sphere through some central circu¬ lation bureau for the whole Moslem world. Thus in Persia, French is read by many of the educated classes. A missionary writes : “French novels are read here freely. French is the neces¬ sary language for all government services and Persians soon become proficient in it. Boys educated in our C.M.S. Schools have brought me French novels of the undesirable type. Many Teheranis are fluent French scholars.” Again, the Moslem fraternity in the island of Mauritius publishes its weekly paper (Ulslamisme) in the French lan¬ guage. On the Congo the missions have produced substitute bilingual primers for school work, in French and Congo. French literature for Moslems could also be used to a certain extent in Turkey, Syria and Egypt. II. English English is another of the languages of Moslem propa¬ ganda, whether in India or in Britain or America. INDIA Although the total number of Moslems in India literate in English was only 179,991 at the 19 ii census, these were the leaders of the Moslem community. At the Aligarh Uni¬ versity and in the High Schools everywhere, young Moslems of the leading classes learn English, and the Indian report [178] iry • T-' i| ♦ jt • •<:* ^ • • • ^ -• ' ^Z '' ■ ‘ '■ ■ -v' T ■''■->>,■ ■ A-' . *V •• ■5: V S-. K . , --'f U-c-iL'V ^ 5. i-Vii • ,.v'-.- ,.- »BB. >t;.. •!.■■ . •, f -■ :-a' ^ ' v i3l . H ■ - - / V ‘ ■" • ■• ' , ■.;, ■ ‘ ;-4 ■■ ;:■■■■' - •- ■ ..^ EUROPEAN LANGUAGES gives to English the fourth place in importance as a lan¬ guage for the production of literature for Moslems. They themselves make much of the language. The Comrade,^ of Delhi, The Observer of Lahore, The Message of Colombo, The Mussulman of Calcutta and The Review of Religions of Qadian, are ably edited anti-Christian papers, the last with a considerable gratis circulation outside India. Recently a Moslem magazine called The Light has appeared, a patent imitation of The Epiphany, a Christian paper issued by the Oxford Mission to Calcutta to answer enquiries and defend the Faith. The Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam at Lahore sends its output to all parts of the Indian Empire. It stocks a number of English titles, such as Manners and Morals of the Prophet, Early Muslims and their Golden Deeds, Women under Islam, Prayer Book for Moslems, etc. Two English versions of the Koran, carefully edited for Christian readers have appeared in India, namely that by Abu’l Fazl in two volumes, Arabic and English (Allahabad 1911), and the Holy Koran pub¬ lished at Qadian 1915. BRITAIN The chief publication work by Moslems is connected with the mission started about 1912 by Mr. Kemal-id-Din, a pleader in the chief court of Lahore. This mission has for its centre the mosque at Woking built by Dr. Leitner for the use of Indian students in England. The teaching is that of the Lahore branch of the Ahmadiya Movement, very carefully adapted for Western consumption. But the mission is friendly to the Aligarh school and appeals for support to Moslems of every type. It does not require of converts any peculiar Ahmadiya doctrines. The publication work is considerable. There is a well known translation of the Koran (in addition to the two English translations published in India) with notes packed with Christian theological terms, the whole being pro¬ duced in the format used for Bibles. The notes totally ignore ® Suppressed for the present by the Government. [179]: CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Moslem official commentaries and give a rational explanation of the miraculous. The mission publishes a magazine, The Islamic Review, of which many copies are distributed gratis both in India and Britain. It is printed in English and circulates in many countries, modified editions of it being published also in Urdu and Tamil. The report of the Survey says of the work of this mission : “Woking is awake to every Christian movement among Moslems, and to all reports of progress in Moslem lands, eager and able to present the weakness and wickedness of Christian civilisation, and welcoming any weapon that can be turned against historic Christianity. Their magazine. The Islamic Review, is ably edited by Khawaja Kemal-id-Din, is illustrated, and contains in every issue an advertisement of the Islamic Review Book Depot, The character of the magazine is well known. Every issue contains articles comparing Islam and Christianity, to the detriment of the latter, and using the weapons of western de¬ structive criticism to assail the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Lists of names are also given of British and of Americans who have embraced Islam. In the January (1922) number, this list contained fifteen names, one of them that of an American Doctor of Divinity.” The magazine does not hesitate to besmirch and libel the spotless character of Jesus Christ. Another Moslem magazine is The Muslim Standard pub¬ lished in London. This is connected with the Islamic Infor¬ mation Bureau which in France has Echos de IT slam as its organ. An appeal issued from 25 Ebury Street, S.W. i, stated that the purpose of the paper was “to help the cause of the suffering (Moslem) peoples and to defend the honours of Islam.” “From Moslems we appeal for funds. Nothing can be done without funds. We want money from Moslems to enable us to enlarge our free circulation among non- Moslems.” Dr. Weitbrecht Stanton reports regarding the activity of the Woking Press. “The main lines,” he says, “of their [180] EUROPEAN LANGUAGES literary propaganda are the excellence of the Koranic revela¬ tion, the ideal character of Mohammed, the position of Moslem womanhood, the evils of Christian civilisation and the un- historical character of the New Testament.” The following list of books advertised by the Woking Mission is illustrative of the line of apologetic followed : Lord Headley: A Western Awakening to Islam. Warn¬ ing against Drink. Marmaduke Pickthall : The Kingdom of God. Sadr-ed-Din : Are the Gospels inspired? Her Highness The Ruler of Bhopal : The Muslim Home. Dr. Mohammed Iqbal: The Secret of the Self. Sheikh M. H. Kidwai (A1 Qidwai) The Mosque, Wok¬ ing: Woman under Judaism and Buddhism, Woman under Christianity, Woman under Islam, Woman under different social and religious laws. Sister Religions, Maulid un Nabi, Divorce, Muslim interests in Palestine, Muhammad the Sign of God, Three great Martyrs, Socrates, Jesus and Ho sain. Harem, Purdah or Seclusion. Khawaja Kemal-id-Din : Islam and the Muslim Prayer, Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, Glimpses from the life of the Prophet Muhammad, The Mystic Side of Islam, The Gospel of Peace. As to the Christian literature to meet these Moslem attacks, '‘we have,” says Dr. Stanton, “such Christian booklets as The Teaching of the Koran, and Extracts from the Koran now being printed in India. Ecce Homo Arabicus by W. H. T. Gairdner has proved valuable. Something more should be done on these lines, for though the demand in Britain is sporadic, articles from The Islamic Review are translated and published in India, Malaysia, Africa and South America, and brochures that meet them might be similarly used.” As prophylactic against much of the afore-mentioned literature in English from the Moslem press, the late H. A. Walter’s careful and able work The Ahmadiya Movement is most useful, and we have also that admirable series of books and tracts by Sell, Goldsack, Gairdner and Takle published in the Islam Series of the Christian Literature Society for India. [i8ij CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM THE UNITED STATES “For many years past,” writes our correspondent “through Syrian and Armenian-speaking colporteurs the Chicago Tract Society has come in frequent contact with Mohammedan immigrants; they have come to America for the most part from Turkey, but some are from Albania and some from North India. A year ago our Society made an effort to locate the principal Mohammedan groups, and to get reliable and definite information regarding Mohammedans in America. While we have been able to locate the colonies in some of our larger cities, and particularly along the western shore of Lake Michigan between Gary on the south and Green Bay on the north, and in Worcester, Peabody and Lynn, Massachusetts, we have not yet been able to get the facts we need. The Al¬ banian Moslems of the United States have their headquarters at Waterbury, Connecticut. Later investigations by Dr. Zwemer have revealed Moslem groups at Milwaukee, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Akron, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Worcester, Sioux Citv, Fargo and other smaller towns. The principal American Moslem paper in English is The Moslem Sunrise, first published by Dr. M. M. Sadiq at Detroit, now issued from Chicago. It represents the mission of the Ahmadiya movement, whose propaganda in the United States finds its centre at 4448 Wabash Avenue, Chicago. The Babi- Behai movement also has its chief centre in Chicago. Australia, too, has its Moslem propagandist paper in Eng¬ lish, Moslem Sunshine, published by the Ahmadiya movement. HI. German The Christians of Germany also have Moslems at their doors, for especially since the war, Berlin University (not to mention other centres) has drawn a large Moslem student body. There are Egyptian, Turkish, Afghan, Caucasian and Indian Moslems settled in Berlin, and the most considerable [182] EUROPEAN LANGUAGES Persian periodicals come from the Persian colony of Berlin. A magnificent mosque was built near the city and according to The Islamic Review (January, 1922) is maintained with State endowments. This paper says: “Our correspondent from Berlin gives an impressive ac¬ count of the celebration of Td-ul-Fitr on May 29th last, at the mosque, situated at Wundersdorf, an hour’s ride from Berlin. Hundreds of Moslems from all parts of the world had assem¬ bled there. The ceremony was enlivened by a display of Turkish, Afghan, Persian and Egyptian flags, all of which Powers were represented by their respective ministers.” The Liwa-el-Islam ( Braunschweich, Hagenstrasse 27), a Moslem propagandist bi-monthly, of political rather than religious character, is issued at Berlin in German, Turkish, Arabic and Persian editions. It is in its second year, illus¬ trated, well edited and pan-Islamic in its programme. The editor is Professor Ilyas Bragon Bey. fV. General Conclusions To a certain extent each great European language has now its opportunity of serving Moslems. Russian is known by many Tatar Moslems and by not a few Sart. Italian is beginning to be used in Tripoli, where an Italian- Arabic paper is published. Spanish is current to a certain extent in the Spanish zone of Morocco, Dutch is being learned in Insulinde, and so the tale might be prolonged. A very large and scholarly European literature about Islam exists in Italian, Dutch, Spanish, German, French and Eng¬ lish. There is also a small body of literature inciting the Church to the evangelisation of Islam. But there is not to any perceptible degree a literature in European languages setting forth Christianity to Moslem readers. Nor is there a literature taking cognisance of the* modern methods of Moslem propaganda, with their imitations of Christian hymns and phraseology and their protestations of universal charity. The European nominal Christian, meet- [183] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM ting such, and meeting also a typical ‘^missionary book” about Islam is too apt to come to the conclusion that his Moslem friends have been libelled by the missionary. “What -we chiefly need,” says Dr. Stanton, “is a careful list of construc¬ tive books, explaining and defending the Christian faith from a modern standpoint, published by some house that will stock them and make them known. We must provide a prophylactic for unstable Europeans and Americans who, not having tasted the power of their own faith, and ignorant of the real char¬ acter of Islam, are carried away by specious arguments.” Another aspect of literature in European languages which hardly comes under this Survey but is closely related to it, is that of “missionary literature,” books and articles sent home from Moslem lands for the information and inspiration of the Christian Church. This education of the home Church is one of the burdens upon the missionary body. It is now neces¬ sarily linked with the prophylactic referred to above, and everyone sitting down to write an article for a missionary magazine must bear in mind the kind of propaganda favour¬ able to Islam to which his readers’ minds may have been subjected. The larger question of a literature in the European lan¬ guages for Moslems themselves throws into greater relief some of the other proposals made in the survey. (1) First, the appearance in India or elsewhere of up- to-date Moslem magazine literature in European languages is a challenge to the Church not to neglect this type of work. It is to be confessed with shame that Moslems have been before us in centralising their journalistic forces. Articles written for the Islamic Review appear not only in the English ver¬ sion of the magazine which reaches Syria, Baghdad, Mauritius, etc., but also in Urdu, Tamil, Arabic and Javanese. If litera¬ ture against Christianity is so published, shall we not be shamed into a counter-unity? Here lies the importance of a Christian press bureau for the development of Christian jour¬ nalism and periodicals in the Moslem world. (See Chapter XIV, Newspaper Evangelism.) (2) Secondly, the call from so many countries for small [184] EUROPEAN LANGUAGES quantities of literature in European languages for educated Moslems, throws into fresh importance the proposal made in so many quarters for a central literature office to which a copy in some European language, as well as a vernacular copy, shall be sent of each publication for Moslems produced throughout the world. The existence of such copies would make possible the striking off of small local editions in French, German or English where desirable. The best provision in English of literature for Moslems is that of the Christian Literature Society for India which makes a small basic edi¬ tion for translation into the various vernaculars. (3) Thirdly, the small numbers of Moslems understand¬ ing the various European languages, and the widely separated areas in which these are found suggest the services of some central circulation agency. Literature committees and mission presses in important language areas can and should undertake their own plans for circulation. But a central bureau might put workers in isolated language areas into touch with the sources of supply. Chapter XI AUTHORSHIP ^AU literary work done on the foreign field should be free from sectarian prejudices or narrowness of vision. . . . Literary work, however, on the foreign field also includes the laying of foundations for the ethical and spiritual faith of millions. Needless to say the one who undertakes this task must himself he thoroughly grounded in the faith once for all delivered and come to his task, not with the interro¬ gation points of doubt, but with positive convictions of truth. — S. M. ZwEMER^ in “Missionary Prepara¬ tion for Literary Work.’’ The foregoing chapters, so largely a record of aspirations, have shown that every language area reporting aims to-day at a literature, a whole literature that shall speak the mind of Christ. Simple, it may be, in little communities whose life is simple, but rich and many-sided in communities of com¬ plicated needs and interests. The men who know best have great desires, and they write of “urgency” and “unparalleled opportunity.” But when they turn to set down their plans for the next few years, it becomes obvious that in no Moslem country are the Christian forces mobilised to meet the “unparalleled op¬ portunity” for bringing the mind of Christ to bear on Moslem minds. I. Lack of Provision for Authorship Literature has been treated as an extra and incidental, rather than as a regular and normal branch of a mission’s [i86] AUTHORSHIP energy and expenditure. Men have filched time out of busy lives to write the books they could not do without. Among the appeals for doctors and teachers to serve abroad, the mis¬ sion boards rarely, if ever, call for men and women to spe¬ cialise in literary service. The story is the same in lands of very simple pioneer missionary effort, and in lands of highly organised work of long and honourable standing. Thus from the little isolated mission body of Southwest Arabia comes the cry: “For many years the writer has been praying that God would send him a clerical colleague who would be able to steep himself in Arabic literature, and so learn how to present the Gospel in a literary way. No man who busies himself in curing the body, or in teaching an English school will ever be able to do this properly. Nevertheless, in the writer’s opinion, it is one of the best ways of winning Moslems to Christ.” {Arabian Report.) India, with her venerable and highly organised missions, echoes the cry. It is still the exception rather than the rule for societies to set apart men and women for literary work, and there is scarcely a worker in all India whose whole time is given to the development of literature for Moslems. “There is no provision in the whole India field for the working out of a systematic advance in the provision of Chris¬ tian literature for Moslems. Everything is left to individual initiative and spasmodic effort, on the part of isolated missions here and there.” {Indian Report.) ^At is almost universally true to say that the vernacular hooks that are written to-day are written in defiance of the claims of many other duties.'' ^ Even in the best served countries, such as Egypt where the preparation of Christian literature has been far from neg¬ lected, there is a sense of inadequacy in view of the present need and opportunity. “It may be stated without qualification, that a widespread conviction exists within all missionary circles in Egypt that the present needs and opportunities call urgently for the working ^Clayton, Christian Literature in India. [187]' CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM out of an adequate, comprehensive and progressive plan. Con¬ fession is freely made that literature as an instrument of mis¬ sionary service has been inadequately developed. The possi¬ bilities of using Christian literature for approaching Moslems directly are literally boundless. It is clear that there is a plenteous want of co-ordination in the forces already at work, and that the present societies are not separately or collectively exploiting all the resources they might. There is special need for releasing editorial talent, both native and foreign, and for a fresh emphasis on the crea¬ tive elements in publication work, as distinct from administra¬ tion.” {Egyptian Report.) Now as never before, those “creative elements” are called for, in each country where Christian literature is to reach out and touch the minds and lives of people of all degrees. But how shall creative power be secured? The making of litera¬ ture is not, like its publication and circulation, a matter of skilled organisation. No amount of organisation can produce gifts of imagination and of sympathetic insight. There is an unaccountable element of divine fire. It is a matter of per¬ sonality. In the average home communities, comparatively few have marked creative gifts. What then can we expect in communities so very small, and so heavily handicapped, as those of our mission stations and the Churches connected with them in Moslem lands ? We get perhaps more than we dare expect. But in view of land after land beginning to hunger for reading, type after type and class after class of readers, myriad minded, waiting for the revelation of the manifold grace of God, how tiny at best must be the total number of minds in our little mission communities marked by the special gifts of creative thought, imagination and expression. And how vital a matter the securing for Christ’s service of the whole sum of those precious gifts, wherever they may be found. And here, at least, organisation has its part to play. It cannot create lit¬ erary power, but it can help to conserve it. And this the reports show to be a primary necessity, to which both the [i88] AUTHORSHIP missions and their home boards must give their earnest attention. II. The Duty of the Home Church At home a strong policy is needed in every mission board concerned with Moslem lands. This matter of literature must be got into the prayers and thought of the home Church. It is strangely ignored in both. In face of such an opportunity as the Moslem world presents to-day, should we not pray for the call and inspiration of writers? How often is this petition heard in intercession meetings? There must be a recognition by the home boards that this matchless opportunity is also an obligation, and their obliga¬ tion, to preach Christ to-day by the printed page. It is as much their business to secure men who can write for Christ, as men who can preach for Christ or heal or teach for Christ. This can be no extra, but a normal part of evangelisation. And it must appear as such in appeals for candidates, that young men and women of writers’ gifts may hear the call. Until every mission recognises its share in this work, it is im¬ possible to meet the demand. There must be a corresponding recognition that the great need cannot be met unless every board also bears its share in the cost of production, not as an occasional but as a regular part of its budget. Mr. E. the evangelist may be wanted for six months, to write a book that shall evangelise far be¬ yond the sound of his spoken voice; or Miss T. the teacher may be wanted for two years, to write books that shall teach far beyond the walls of her school. And such books may be for the use of the whole mission body, not of one board or Church. What then is the policy of the home board? That policy will depend on two things : first on the measure to which the new need for the printed message of Christ is recognised by the board, and secondly, on the measure of their recogni¬ tion that the gifts of the Spirit are a trust for the use of the whole Church. To refuse a bare money contribution to [189] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM literature is one thing, and a serious one. But to refuse to release (even at great loss to the work of one mission) the creative gifts of Miss X. or Mr. Z. for the service of Chris¬ tian literature is irreparable, since those gifts are individual and cannot be replaced. Nothing but a policy of unselfish generosity on the part of all home boards, each conscious that it must give service to all the rest and accept service from them, can release the forces needed, native, and foreign, to meet the unprecedented situation. The business of this chapter is to examine the information in the present survey, as to the men and the organisation needed to-day if a Christian literature is to be created for Moslem lands. III. Translators or Original Writersf The survey shows a general deprecation of translation, and a sense that it can be only a poor second best. ‘‘Our existing literature has this fundamental weakness, that for the most part it represents merely translation, as dis¬ tinguished from original production. It reminds one of the bucket and the well, rather than of the brook or the fountain. Only literature which really comes pulsing from the very heart of a people will make that heart to throb again with a new impulse. To interpret is to interrupt the process of thought. Hitherto our Arabic literature has been for the greater part translated, either from western originals, or from the original work of missionaries written in English.” {Egyptian Report.) Syria also reports that at least 75 or 80 per cent of its general Christian literature represents translation, while in Turkey the proportion is “at least 85 per cent.” The litera¬ ture for Moslems published in China and Persia is practically all translation. India is exceptional in the bulk of original work, but much of this, though original in one Indian lan¬ guage, is published in translation in other Indian vernaculars. There has been, then, a preponderating element of trans- [190] AUTHORSHIP lation. Let us not therefore despair. A translation may even be great literature, as witness the Authorised Version of the English Bible. At least the reports show that translation need not slavishly adhere to foreign idioms : “Nearly all the literature yet produced is of the nature of translation work, rather than original production. In many cases, however, the objections to a slavish translation have been avoided by making the new work an adaptation rather than a translation. In the general literature which the Malays themselves have produced in the last 300 years, there are very few original works; almost everything has been translated from Arabic or Persian.” {Malaysian Report.) Such literature as has been produced here is a combina¬ tion of translation and original authorship. The book to be translated is adapted to the needs of Moslems. Direct trans¬ lations are very unsatisfactory as a rule. In French or Eng¬ lish originals the Christian point of view is presupposed, and the purpose of an excellent book in English may be entirely lost on Moslem readers. {North African Report.) The translators plainly have a saving sense that their work is a second best. It is not therefore to be despised. Much of the literature so far has necessarily been directed to meet¬ ing Moslem arguments, and in books of sober reasoning the disadvantages of translation are less felt than in more imagi¬ native works. In some other cases, too, — as for instance when it is first desired to make children’s books in a language with fixed literary forms, none of them adapted to little children’s rhymes and tales, — translation may have its use at the begin¬ ning. A translation soaked in the spirit of childhood and also in the spirit and idiom of an eastern language may inspire writers to attempt a new literary style and genre in their own tongue, as they realise how books in other languages have served the children. But it remains broadly true that for the more creative kinds of work, and the more intimate appeals of literature, translation is a sorry second best. For stories of home life, works of fancy and meditation, for personal appeals and [191] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM touches of humour, above all for the poetry that we need, we must have creators rather than translators. IV. Eastern or Western Authorship? To whom then shall we look for authorship? All the re¬ ports are agreed that, theoretically, the writer should be one of the nation for whom he writes, handling his mother tongue with an intimate freedom that no foreigner can reach. And again, theoretically, the writers best able to help the Moslem should be converts who have themselves experienced Islam from within. “Other things being equal the native ought to be able to write more effectively in his own language than the foreigner. The pinch comes in getting other things equal.” {North African Report.) There are Moslem countries where, as yet, the tiny body of converts from Islam cannot produce a literature; and there are lands where books by oriental Christians may be read less respectfully than books from the West. “We have only the Christians of the old Nestorian and other Churches on whom to draw. One or two such are co-operat¬ ing.” {Arabian Report.) “With regard to native authorship, our chief difficulty is that, at present, there are no Turkish converts trained for literary work. Theoretically, indigenous authorship ought to be more effective, and in Turkey has proved to be so in con¬ nection with Armenian and Greek publications; but so far we have had little experience of indigenous authorship for Mos¬ lems; one of the books on our list was written for Moslems by an Armenian. The fact that he was an indigenous Chris¬ tian seemed to place his work on an even more unfavourable plane than if it had been written by a foreigner.” {Turkish Report.) Another difficulty reported is that of a certain immaturity in the literature produced, especially by converts. As of old “not many wise after the flesh” are called. Many converts [192J AUTHORSHIP may come only from the first or second generation of literacy in families long illiterate. “Genius may create an exception at any time ; yet a com¬ munity whose ancestors for generations have been entirely without education, cannot as a rule at once produce writers capable of giving mature Christian teaching. The converts are not many, nor of very long standing; and up to the pres¬ ent they have been good aids but have not developed any initiative along this line. They have as yet no vision as to literature.” {North African Report.) “A fundamental difficulty is the mediocre education of many of our men and women, their narrow reading and conse¬ quently unnourished imagination. Literature produced by Egyptian Christians is often immature.” {Egyptian Report.) No doubt at present, in lands where there are no great libraries, unless of Koranic literature, works by writers with very rudimentary ideas of accurate research and thought must often be accepted, in the hope that “a poor thing but mine own” may be of greater service than a better thing that is a foreign product. But there is a more serious immaturity than that of intellect. It is shown in a sort of hardness which may prove more repellant to the Moslem than even the for¬ eignness of the western writer’s efforts. “For the most part the work that has been done by Indian authors has been of a controversial nature; and the chief efforts on the side of the sympathetic approach have been made by missionaries, as for example Rouse and Sell.” {Indian Report.) “Sometimes there is real need of education as to the out¬ look of the Moslem neighbors. Many Indian Christian women in Northern India know little of the Moslem point of view.” {Indian Report.) “There are Syrian writers among us who can and want to write for Moslems. But the hard thing is to find those who understand the Moslem’s difficulties, and approach them in a way both to convince and to win. The great problem is not to find those of good ability, but those who have also a zealous and loving and winsome spirit. {Syrian Report.) [193] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Such difficulties can only drive us to penitent prayer for those Churches in the East that have grown up all too faith¬ fully in our likeness. Meanwhile, in places where writers are not yet to be found from among the Christians of the country, it will not do to despair of the westerner. Not all books by foreigners sound absurd or even poor. How many English¬ men would be glad of the power to write English like that of Rabindranath Tagore ! “To be able to write idiomatically, so as to take hold of the mind and imagination of the reader, is more a matter of ex¬ perience, training and genius than of race.” {North African Report,) V. The Present Compromise; Combined Au¬ thorship The present policy seems one of compromise, in which an eastern and a western writer sit side by side, each revising the other’s work. The immediate result as literature may be rather laboured; the books so built up must show the chisel marks. But who can tell the ultimate fruitfulness of such a marriage of true minds? Every such combination may be a training ground for some writer of power. “There are hardly any Christian converts from Islam whose mother-tongue is the Malay language, or who use that language well enough to write it effectively, or to do editorial work. For the present the best possible arrangement would probably be for the missionary to make a rough draft of a tract or book, and then turn it over to a Malay to be written again, thus giving the indigenous touch. The work might then need slight modification, which could be made without spoiling the style of the writer.” {Malaysian Report.) “The translations were made by a competent Chinese scholar, but one who was not a Moslem, and was unfamiliar with Moslem thought and phraseology. When each trans¬ lation was finished, the manuscript was mimeographed and copies sent to converts from Mohammedanism and workers amongst Moslems, in several provinces. Nevertheless, in spite [194] AUTHORSHIP of this care, we are not satisfied with the translation. {Chinese Report. ) “Most of the work required at the present day should be done by cultured Indians who are acquainted with Moslems and their faith and language. Such foreigners as are familiar with the idiomatic vernacular might be asked to act in con¬ junction with the Indian writers selected. In the nature of the case, some of the best work is to be expected from those who are themselves converts from Islam, and they should be asked to write in collaboration with experienced foreign mission¬ aries. It is undoubtedly true that we have gifted writers who would probably make a larger and more useful output if they were to receive more encouragement to-day. We certainly need more Indian writers. {Indian Report.) The same discontent is manifest everywhere and is a hope¬ ful sign for the future. The western missionaries are con¬ vinced that in matters of authorship they must decrease and their eastern brothers must increase. “We have employed some Arab workers in translation from Literary Arabic and French into North African Arabic. As soon as any show capacity in a literary direction, we should use them in production and train them in it. Where there is an abundance of zeal and life it will manifest itself in writing, even to the breaking through of some old forms. We long to see this in the Arabic world. “When we get Spirit-filled Arabs to do original work, we shall see a new era dawn. There is a power of poetry and imagination among them than has never been laid under con¬ tribution.’^ {North African Report.) “To enlarge or enlist the number of really first class writers of original Arabic is the real problem of the Church in the mission field.” {Egyptian Report.) VI. Development of Authorship Various suggestions are offered for the development of latent literary power. [195]. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM The Syrian report suggests that an able Syrian editor should be engaged who should have besides the sense of use¬ fulness to his nation, “a good salary and a career of promi¬ nence.” One is forced to cry out that a sense of vocation and a passion for the service of Christ have had more to do with the production of the great Christian classics. Yet money may have its part to play in liberating the gifts that are needed for our Lord’s service. ‘‘Perhaps increased funds would enable us to train writers.” {Chinese Report.) “A solution of the problem might be attempted by securing the paid time of writers, or by offering to pay for finished manuscripts on assigned topics; but both these methods are contrary to the laws of genius and furor scrihendi. There are two kinds of writers ; those who have to write something, and those who have something to write. The latter only are worth reading or paying. Yet in the Orient as long as authorship is unpaid, we shall never get much further — at least in all higher types of literature. Likely authors must be encour¬ aged to write by the knowledge that they will not be unre¬ munerated, and by the offer of fair payment, or by the offer¬ ing of prizes for best work.” {Egyptian Report.) “Something ought to be done at the little native confer¬ ences that are held here and there, by offering a prize for a short tract on a set subject. This might help to awake un¬ conscious powers.” {North African Report.) “Co-operation among existing agencies, and the encour¬ aging of a coterie of literary workers and an esprit de corps will help to solve the problem. Authors must also be sought out and engaged when found. Promising writers in schools and colleges must be noted and encouraged. Reference libraries, both in English and in Arabic, should be made avail¬ able.” {Egyptian Report.) A more daring scheme is proposed in the Report of the China Educational Commission ig2i-22 from which we quote : “The report of the National Committee of the Y.W.C.A. for 1921 contains an interesting paragraph. The statement made regarding women is probably a little more extreme [196] AUTHORSHIP than would be true of men, but not much more. ‘Generally speaking, the literature situation in China is critical and of central significance to a degree which could not obtain in a Western country. The language is going through a tremen¬ dous upheaval, comparable only to what happened in Europe in the Middle Ages. The ability of girls and women in the field of writing is almost as undeveloped and unthought of as then; we face an overwhelming need for modern Chinese publications and it is probably safe to say that there is not a woman in China who would as yet feel herself equipped to write well in the new form of expression.’ “In view of this situation, few steps seem more urgent than the development of a thoroughly strong School of Lit¬ erature in connection with some centrally located college or university, which shall train writers for all types of literature, its aim being to prepare thoroughly equipped writers and editors, in whose hands the printed page, be it in newspaper, textbook, novel, magazine, current article or treatise, shall help to infuse all China’s life with the Christian ideals. Special attention should be given also to translating or adapting West¬ ern material. The Commission recommends the establishment of such a school in connection with Peking University.” How far could these paragraphs, with a change of proper names, be applied to the Moslem lands of the Near and Mid¬ dle East? From their own statements quoted above, it is clear that the missionaries see plainly enough the need for native authorship, and bend their plans towards it. It is also clear that the Churches in Moslem lands are not yet inspired, and in some cases not yet mentally equipped for the production of literature. For the moment, the hungry readers can only be fed if we release missionaries for the special work of writing and of such a type of editorship as shall seek to find and develop indigenous authorship. VII. The Problem of Production The contributors to the survey were asked to lay down a programme of advance, each for their own area. They [197], CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM were ready enough, as the preceding chapters show, to describe the books immediately needed. But when it came to setting down a programme of production, they had to confess that they were not mobilised for the work. One and all they cried “give us a man.” In most of the countries reporting, the whole pos¬ sibility of advance in production is hound up with the releas¬ ing and financing of literary workers. Such measures are reported as absolutely vital. In some countries they are bound up also with proposals for some simple co-operative scheme, whereby all the missions share in the work to be done and the fruits of it. Let each field speak for itself : CHINA The problem of the production of literature for Moslems in China will not be solved, until the Mission Boards set aside competent foreign and Chinese writers to undertake this work. ARABIA Worker Needed: “A limited staff, both foreign and native, makes it practically impossible at present to desig¬ nate workers especially for this task. Although the Arabian Mission has allocated Dr. Zwemer to Cairo for literary work in the intellectual centre of Islam, the literary worker on the spot is also a necessity. Local writers, both native and for¬ eign, are required to write a literature in the local vernacular, which differs from Syrian and Egyptian Arabic. Literature should be considered of sufficient importance for the assignment of a missionary with natural aptitude, suffi¬ cient training and missionary experience to full time literary work. Such a step should be taken as possible, for there is real need.” Organisation Needed: “The Arabian Mission has an organised Literature Committee, but none of its members is able to give full time to literary work.” The Missions in Aden report no provision for a systematic production of literature in their area. “A general committee [198] AUTHORSHIP including all missions to Moslems is necessary to any pro¬ gramme of advance, to secure co-ordination of aim, assign¬ ment of work and distribution of product. The budget should be included in the regular estimates of the mission, with special expenditures cared for by special grants if possible.” ‘‘Our writers will have to train themselves, with such guidance as they can secure by study and correspondence. But writers that inform need tools. They need a reference library, the apparatus of scholarship. We should therefore endeavour to secure for the Arabian Mission a library of standard works of reference and sources together with copies of all available Christian literature for Moslems.” SYRIA AND PALESTINE Worker Needed: “At least one foreign worker would be needed to superintend such work, if an adequate pro¬ gramme were to be undertaken; and special additional funds would have to be provided. One correspondent thinks that one man and two women could devote all their time with profit to the provision of needed literature. If the various missions here realise the common need, it is likely that an author or authors could be found.” Organisation Needed: “There exists a United Mission¬ ary Conference for Syria and Palestine through which, or a committee appointed by it, hands could be laid upon the right authors. The United Conference might well have a com¬ mittee to superintend the work, or the work might be under¬ taken in connection with the Beirut Press, if it develops its proposals for becoming a union agency.” NORTH AFRICA Organisation Needed: “To work out an adequate programme the foreign personnel exists; but we need to raise up native leaders. The first essential is the formation of an Inter-Mission Committee for North Africa. It seems essential, at the outset of a forward movement, to distribute work as widely as possible. The joint Committee will agree [199] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM upon what literature shall be produced, and what persons or Societies shall assume the responsibility of preparing specific pieces of work. Manuscripts of proposed publications should be circulated for suggestion and criticism on language or sub¬ ject, — this in order to get the most satisfactory work possible to serve for all the missions publishing. A common list of all literature prepared for North Africa should be made and kept up to date so that all missionaries may know what exists.” EGYPT Workers Needed: “In recent years the American Chris¬ tian Literature Society for Moslems has been anxious to provide for every well-advised scheme, and those on the field have scarcely been able to provide adequate outlet for the society’s zeal. Given adequate leisure to those missionaries and helpers who have proved their ability to produce, an ad¬ vanced programme is possible, otherwise it will fail. Societies must set apart missionaries for this purpose. The fact that programmes in the past have always been far beyond the financial resources or the staff equipment, should not discourage us. The new day for Christian litera¬ ture has come.” Organisation Needed: “Perhaps a major cause for insufficient action has been the absence of a satisfying plan of co-operation which might bring together the various forces for the accomplishment of a work whose highest suc¬ cess can only be achieved co-operatively. Some would regard the lack of funds as the chief deterrent; financial support has indeed been inadequate at all times and so spasmodic and unreliable as to cut the nerve of a continuous and progressive plan and policy. The programme to be executed is an ex¬ ceedingly large and varied one. It can only be successfully accomplished on a co-operative basis, for its execution will require the most liberal distribution of time and talent out of the personnel and constituency, both foreign and native, which the several missionary agencies command. “These missions must be made to feel, therefore, that they [200] AUTHORSHIP are participating vitally in the formation and execution of the programme.” One other highly important paragraph in the Egyptian report must be quoted in full, for its significance extends far beyond Egypt: “Over against and beyond all the societies, are the huge numbers of the old Eastern Churches, both in Syria, Palestine and Egypt, without a single publishing agency (Latins ex¬ cepted), without adequate organisation or direction of literary forces, yet with enormous possibilities both of production and reception. Almost nothing has been done to seek out writers or planners from among them and to give the latter a place in our councils. Yet even under these conditions Mr. Upson, of the Nile Mission Press, reports that a number of members of the Oriental churches, particularly of the Coptic Church, are in personal contact with him and send far more manu¬ scripts than it is possible for the Mission Press to publish — a state of affairs which calls to us to devise channels large enough to admit and develop their service. Difficult, such a task will undoubtedly be, yet nothing is more certain than that this must come ; and any new organisation should be such as would from the first seek to bring these communities and their needs into vital relationship with its programme. This is true even from the standpoint of missions to Mohammedans if long views are taken as they should be.” TURKEY AND THE BLACK SEA AREA Workers Needed: For Turkey, at least two mission¬ aries, a man and a woman, with literary ability and an expert knowledge of Islam, should be set aside permanently for literary work. “The problem of securing the time of authors, or devel¬ oping a force of competent native writers, is largely a question of money. “The American Board pays the salary of one man who is supposed to give all his time to the oversight of publica- [201]: CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM tion work. This man should be more of a business manager than a writer, and one part of his work must always be to secure from missionaries well thought out material for pub¬ lication; where this would involve devoting one’s whole time to writing for a certain period, either long or short, special permission would have to be obtained from the Mission and the Board, but this could probably be arranged without difficulty.” Organisation Needed: 'Tn Bulgaria a Danish Baptist Mission has begun work for Moslems. As approximately half a million Moslems in Bulgaria use Turkish, a plan for co-operation with the American Board workers in Turkey will be feasible and desirable. Possibly this plan could be made to contemplate work for all the Turkish-speaking Mos¬ lems in the Balkans. We think an effort should be made to secure co-operation with the Russian Church as soon as the way opens. United effort among all those working for Turks and Tatars should be brought about.” PERSIA Workers Needed : ‘Tersonnel must be developed. Men cannot come straight from home to take up this work. The mission staffs must therefore be kept large enough to enable us to set aside a suitable man or men for literary work. Apparently the C.M.S. are still shorthanded.” Organisation Needed: “The Inter-Mission Literature Committee does not officially represent the missions. Its work is hampered by distance, and by the lack of active agencies in the missions and lack of personnel available. The committee has no authority to ask individuals to take up lit¬ erary work. If a fixed annual sum could be set apart for literature, it would be well if one or more workers from abroad visited Persia, to confer and advise in literary work. The present committee could be reorganised in such a conference, to bring it into representative relation with the literature agencies abroad and the societies on the field.” [202] AUTHORSHIP INDIA Workers Needed: It has already been laid down as a principle by the Continuation Committee Conference that ‘‘In every language area a missionary should be especially set apart for the purpose of stimulating and guiding writers of vernacular literature.” Important as are the steps made in this direction, they do not yet provide the specialist workers needed for literature for Moslems. “The highly successful plan of the Y.M.C.A. in India, of having a special literature secretary in the person of Dr. Farquhar, who gives his whole time to the production of lit¬ erature and the securing of writers for definite pieces of work, leads us most hopefully to urge the following ap¬ pointment : Whole Time Secretary: The work, to be done prop¬ erly, would require that there be one full time Literary Secretary for Moslem work responsible to the National Mis¬ sionary Council, with a budget at his disposal, in order to enable him to carry out office work and the subsidising of authors. He should also act as editor-in-chief of new litera¬ ture and revisions of existing literature. Temporary Workers: We would recommend that a central body be constituted for all India, composed of experts in the matter of literature for Moslems; and that this body, having before it the more urgent needs, approach certain persons with a view to getting them to take in hand a definite piece of work; and approach also the bodies with which such persons, Indian or foreign, are connected, to secure their release during, say, a number of months, for the comple¬ tion of the task.” Organisation Needed: “Where there is no plan and no programme, no knowledge of a wider need, no direc¬ tion and supervision of writers, work may be done in a corner, published and put on the market, before opinions have been sought as to the need for a book, or criticisms asked about the style or treatment. Good work could have been made more [203] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM acceptable to workers and to Moslems alike had there been consultation prior to publishing.” central body in India, with a knowledge of both the more immediate and future needs, and informed as to the people able and willing to write, ought to make it possible for a number of books on different subjects to be written during the next few years, in such a way as to serve the whole area under review. Such books could be printed by the hundred thousand, and at a much lower price than if published by a single body. We need in addition to the National Missionary Council’s Special Committee on Literature, another Committee for Literature for Moslems. This would provide the author¬ ity and machinery and talent. It is imperative that the work of preparing and carrying through an adequate programme be at once set in motion by the Committee on Work among Moslems.” MALAYSIA Workers Needed: “Those who can effectively pro¬ duce literature are so valuable and so scarce, that the mis¬ sions ought to see that it is in the best interests of the work as a whole, that such men and women be set free, to some extent, from other duties, so as to have time and strength to devote to this most important enterprise. The missionaries who are capable of doing so should train natives who may show any aptitude for this kind of work. And they should be adequately supported, either by individual missions, or, better still, by some interdenominational agency supported by all the Churches.” “In the Malay Peninsula we have sufficient plan, though insufficient funds for production. The great limitation is the lack of qualified missionaries to do the writing and editorial work.” Organisation Needed: “Owing to the war and other adverse circumstances, there has never been any co-opera¬ tion between the missionaries in the Dutch and British areas, in the matter of producing and distributing Christian literature.” Within the Dutch East Indies, however, there is [204] AUTHORSHIP now a joint committee on literature, which has adopted a programme for a forward movement. A number of able writers might, with more co-operation, be laid under con¬ tribution. Such are the next steps for securing authorship as seen in one Moslem land after another. Between the Christian Church and her duty, nay, between the Christian Church and such an opportunity as our fathers prayed for and never saw, lies first, the need of releasing and financing a handful of workers, and secondly, the need of some simple organisation bringing all the societies in any one field into relationship with that task of literature production which none is strong enough to do alone. Such a linking of the available forces in counsel gives to each home board the assur¬ ance that the men and the money which it surely now must regularly budget for literature, will be used as the united wisdom and the need of the whole field shall determine. It gives a similar guarantee to those societies, outside the ordi¬ nary mission boards, which supply grants for Christian litera¬ ture. God forbid that our weariness and distrust of further organisation should hold back the Bread of Life, while ‘hhe hungry sheep look up and are not fed.” Vlll. Different Language Areas But the missionaries ask for something further. In many lands and many languages similar material is needed; as for instance, tracts meeting common difficulties like the objection to the term “Son of God” ; or stories of lives lived or laid down for Christ; or notes for Moslems on the New Testa¬ ment. There is a strong feeling that with our present lack of writers trained in knowledge of the Moslem mind, the thinking and the writing done in one country should be shared by others. This is no new idea. In December, 1911, Mr. A. T. Upson, Honorary Secretary of the Lucknow Literature Committee, sent a letter to the chief missionary committees in Moslem lands, asking that English translations of articles [205] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM published in their fields might be transmitted to The Moslem World for insertion in an Exchange column. Not a great deal came of the suggestion then, although the wide translation of a few tracts, such as those of Dr. Rouse or Mr. Upson’s Khuthas, shows that exchange has not been unknown. Now there is a unanimous cry for a further development of this scheme, through some central clearing¬ house. All may benefit to some extent; but it is the workers among isolated groups, too small to produce their own writers, that will gain the most. This is especially true of the Conti¬ nent of Africa. The one or two missionaries to some tribe in the path of the advance of Islam, are men-of-all-work. They cannot find the time for authorship; indeed it is only here and there that the pioneer missionary can add the gift of writing to his other gifts. What might be done with the help of some central clearing house is shown by the fact that one primer on hygiene, prepared on the Congo, by a missionary who had the gift of writing for Africans, is being translated into 48 African languages. One man or woman of gifts can thus save the time and energy of scores of colleagues whose people have the same needs. Here are the proposals of the missionaries: ARABIA “This field would ask for tabulation and sifting of all existing literature for Moslems, so that all publications could be available for all. There should be a general committee of literature for Moslems, with which the field committee should be connected. A department for such a committee in The Moslem World would be of great help.” INDIA “Because of the need of translations in several vernaculars we suggest that as a rule, an English text may be so prepared as to be readily available for such translation. [206] AUTHORSHIP Basic manuscripts prepared in English, and sent to all the fields for translation into the local vernaculars might well be experimented with. The India committee recommend that this be given a trial. The central body in India should be in touch with a representative body for the whole world, and exchange basic manuscripts in English. India would wish to receive informa¬ tion concerning books and tracts used in other fields, and methods of production and distribution of literature em¬ ployed elsewhere.” TURKEY ‘Tt is our hope and expectation, that this Survey will bring us into direct co-operation with other organisations engaged in the production of Christian literature for Moslems in the Near East and elsewhere. “If the plan of having a central agency, to serve all Mos¬ lem fields in providing Christian literature, is carried out, the necessary adaptations of English, or other European originals, could be made before the material is handed to our translators here. In this way, a great part of the objections to the use of translations would be obviated. Our Committee would like to see the plan tried of having basic manuscripts prepared in English, to be sent from one field to another. But it should be understood that the translations made should be adaptations rather than literal translations.” SYRIA “It should be thoroughly practicable to send out basic manuscripts in English to various Moslem fields for transla¬ tion. The testimony of a Moslem convert, for example, would be valuable wherever Moslems are interested. Good biog¬ raphies and wholesome stories could be made available in this way too. If this material could be manifolded on a mimeo¬ graph, for example, it could be made widely available.” [207] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM EGYPT “All boards or societies which publish should be regis¬ tered by some central agency. Then every such board or society should possess the list of all, with secretaries’ names. A copy of everything published in each should be sent to all as a matter of course. “Basic manuscripts prepared in English should be sent from one field to the other, for translation and use in that field.” NORTH AFRICA “If there were a central committee for the whole Moslem world, publishing news of all literature prepared for Moslems, and other general information, it would be a great boon. '‘The Moslem World should have an active Literature Department. Every new publication touching Islam, every new piece of literaure, down to the smallest tract should be mentioned and catalogued, and the list published, as a supple¬ ment or separate inset. All new publications could be noticed, and an annual list be published. Nothing would be too in¬ significant for inclusion, as some of the simplest literature reaches the largest numbers. “The preparation of basic manuscripts in English, printed if possible, would enable all fields to benefit from the experi¬ ence of other fields, or from the study of some specialist. A central receiving office should be decided upon, preferably in Cairo.” CHINA “We should be glad to receive literature in English for translation into Chinese. Basic manuscripts, prepared in English and sent from one field to another, would, we think, be of immense service to us here. The peculiarity of this field is that Moslems congregate, and their influence is most felt, in the province of Kansu and beyond. Our most experi¬ enced workers are also stationed in this province; but the preparation and publication of manuscripts is carried on in [208] AUTHORSHIP Shanghai, where facilities for that kind of work exist in greater measure than elsewhere. The consequence is that we in Shanghai are working at least looo miles from our base, and that those who have charge of the publication work are not those who know most about Moslem needs. “We realise the advantage it would be to have a man ex¬ perienced in the evangelisation of Moslems stationed in Shanghai, but, so far, we have not been able to secure such. Workers are so few that the Boards will not spare a man for this purpose, and workers themselves feel the call of the Moslem field to be so strong that they are loath to stay. The suggested basic manuscripts, prepared by men who have been and are in touch with Moslem work, in the very centre of the Moslem field, might be of great service to us.” MALAYSIA “There should be a central clearing house for all literature for Moslems produced in all the countries of the world. This clearing house should be either in London or New York or both. Copies of all literature now in existence in all lan¬ guages, with English translations of the same, should be kept on file at the clearing house, and should be available when needed for translation into other languages. “Manuscript English translations should be made of every tract or book published in any mission field. About five car¬ bon copies could be made of such manuscripts, one of which must always remain on file in the clearing house mentioned, the other copies being available to be sent to any other field. “In connection with such a central agency, there should be experienced missionaries, and scholars with special knowledge of the Mohammedan situation who could give advice as to any modifications which it would seem advisable to make in future editions or translations, in regard to matter, style and char¬ acter. The outlying fields, where pioneer literary work is being done, would greatly benefit by such advice and co-operation from those who for decades have had the opportunity of study¬ ing the literature and life of Islam in Egypt, Arabia and other places nearer the centre of Moslem influence.” [209] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM IX. Summary These suggestions for inter-field contacts fall under four main heads : 1. There should be some central committee for literature for Moslems, linking up the various field committees and undertaking the business of the clearing house suggested above. 2. Existing literature for Moslems should be collected, tabulated in a complete catalogue, and specimens should be held in a central place available for all. 3. Future literature, down to the smallest tract in the smallest field, should be catalogued by some central body, which will from time to time publish supplementary catalogues and will hold specimens of all the listed literature : 4. Future literature should be prepared with a version in some European language, and this should be available, through a central clearing house, for translation in any other field. Like all co-operative schemes, these must fall through, unless some responsible person or persons are set apart to work them. The danger of such schemes, even where, as here, they are generally desired, is that being everybody’s business they are no one’s first concern. The Church in Moslem lands is too poorly staffed to risk any scheme that will mean energy thrown away. It is also plain that she feels herself too weak to work in continued isolation when she might work unitedly. The only alternative is to put through a co-operative plan, with a deliberate counting of the cost and proper staffing from the first. ^‘Christians,” said a Moslem newspaper in Calcutta, “are not marching on us to-day with unsheathed sword to shed streams of blood, but with peaceable methods which are a thousands times more deadly. First of all they are urging the need for Christian unity.” [210] Chapter XII PUBLICATION Learning hath gained most by those hooks by which the printers have lost. — Fuller, in “Holy and Profane State*’' Let us suppose that the need for literature has so pressed itself home upon the mission circle in some Moslem land that Mr. A. has used his holiday weeks to translate a story for his boys; Miss B. has hammered out some rhymes that con¬ vey a gospel story to an audience of village women; ‘Abdullah has written a controversial work; Dr. X. has put together some lectures to hospital helpers ; and some one else has nearly ready a commentary on Philippians, or a design for a wall text. But who is to be the publisher? A publisher has three main relationships : with authors and artists; with the printing trade; with the bookselling trade. The third relationship, that touching distribution, the crux at which our best laid plans might fail, is so important that it will be considered in a separate chapter. We will try now to consider the publication of Christian literature for Moslems, in its first two relationships only. In the exceedingly wasteful past the man who woke up with an idea for a new leaflet first filched the time from other duties to write it; then wrote begging letters, to individuals or to societies that give grants-in-aid, for money to produce it; then carried it in triumph to the local press, and haggled more or less successfully over price and paper; then corrected grubby proofs, and almost sat over the machine, until he could bear home in triumph his couple of thousand leaflets, pro- [211] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM duced in the sweat of his brow. His brethren of his own society knew what he was doing, and helped in distribution; but his brethren in other societies might or might not know. If they did learn of the tract and ask for copies, the author- publisher despatched their orders, and turned accountant as he made out the bills. The report from North Africa shows that this individual¬ istic man-0 f -all- work method is not obsolete. But it is terribly wasteful. It means the burial of the very man with the in¬ spiration and the creative impulse that literature so sorely needs, under the details of cost of paper, size of edition, storage, the finding of money to pay the printer, and the col¬ lecting of money from sales. It was the method of the pioneers who had to be jacks-of-all-trades; but the reports show that no one to-day is content that it shall continue. Each report in turn suggests that the publisher on his editorial side, — he who seeks for manuscripts and decides upon their pub¬ lication, — shall be a central literature committee for each field, with an officer who can give full time to the details of the work. 7. The Literature Committee as Publisher Every area aspires after its own literature committee (in some cases committees) to which Miss B. can send her story, ‘Abdullah his controversial work and Mr. X. his commentary. Such a committee will also take the initiative, as does a pub¬ lisher in Europe, and urge upon Miss B. to write another story, and upon her society to set her free to do so. The com¬ mittee will thus be the agent for the finding and payment of authors. Consequently, upon the committee will fall also the task of telling Miss B. that her new story needs shortening by one-third, to bring it to a more saleable length; or of per¬ suading ‘Abdullah to deal his hard knocks with more of love and modesty. So far, a publication committee represents a publisher and his “readers” in their relationship with the crea¬ tive people, — the writers and artists. [212] PUBLICATION Where there is only one such committee in a given area, it is important that it represent all the elements of Christian thought and work in those parts. In some cases this is all but accomplished. Thus the Arabian Mission, representing by far the greatest output of work in the Peninsula, has a well organised literature committee. It cannot feel satisfied, how¬ ever, that it is carrying out the task for the whole area, until it has linked up with the smaller missions in the Southwest. “A general committee including members from all mis¬ sions to Moslems is necessary to any programme of advance, to secure co-ordination of aim, assignment of work and dis¬ tribution of product.’^ (Arabian Report.) In the same way the American Board, by far the largest producer in Turkey and the Balkan area, and already organ¬ ised with its own literature committee, looks forward to united work with the newer and smaller Danish Mission in Bul¬ garia, and even lives in hope of linking up one day with the publication energies of the Orthodox Church for Russian Moslems. Some areas cannot be effectively served by one committee only. Thus the report for Malaysia, which after all is no unity, but an aggregation of various races and faiths, points out that conditions on the Peninsula and in Java, for instance, call for very different planning. The Dutch and British Gov¬ ernments have added to the difficulty of joint work by adopt¬ ing different systems of spelling in Romanised Malay, — a real hardship to those who can only just read. “A thoroughly representative committee from the various missions that are working in Java ought to be able to work out an adequate program for Java, South Sumatra and South Borneo. In the Malay Peninsula, North Sumatra and North Borneo local conditions are so entirely different that it would be found necessary to organise a distinct committee with head¬ quarters at Singapore.” (Malaysian Report.) Here the desideratum seems to be some close link between two committees; such as an annual conference of leaders, for exchange of ideas and plans, that the thinking and as far as possible the authorship may be shared by the whole area. [213] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Again, the conditions in Arabic lands seem to show the need for local committees in each area, such as are suggested in the reports from Syria, North Africa and Arabia, special¬ ising on the discovery and encouragement of local authorship, and the adaptation of literature to local needs and local ver¬ nacular Arabic. But the reports show at the same time a real interdependence between the various Arabic lands, and state most definitely the need for some link between the literary workers or committees in the diiferent Arabic countries. In these Arabic lands, where literature for Moslems has been for some time attempted, it is interesting to note how the different bodies (as for instance the Algiers Mission Band, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Algeria, the American Press Beirut, the Nile Mission Press, the C.M.S., the World’s Sunday School Association and the Egypt General Mission) have already struck out lines of contribution different from their brethren, each bearing the stamp of individuality, much as does the work of the numerous religious publishers in Britain or America. No reasonable person considers the various religious publishing societies in America or Great Britain as necessarily rivals. Each caters for different needs. Still less, where the total output is so very small, can we see rivalry in the variety of Christian publishing bodies in the Arabic world. Rather must differences of mental colour and mode of expression of the good news be hailed with joy. We covet for the work of Christ all the gifts of the Spirit. Each group serves the whole best by being most itself. And even as we plan for closer co-ordination and brotherhood in our task, we must beware of any scheme for united work that hampers the creative impulse of any unit in the group. “The very fact that certain existing agencies possess a special and distinctive character which disqualifies them, as they now stand, from becoming central publishing agencies for the whole missionary movement — this very fact imparts to these agencies a peculiar advantage in the performance of work which lies legitimately within the sphere of their spe¬ cialty ; whether this specialty be linguistic, dialectic, theological, literary, imaginative or editorial work, or even that of mechan- [214] METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE AT SINGAPORE One of the Largest Printing Presses in the Mission Field INDUSTRIAL PRINTING PRESS OF THE RHENISH MISSION AT LAGOEBOTI, SUMATRA This Press Prints Two IMagazines, and in 1921 had a Total Output of 2,500,000 Pages ^ y. ' . 'X- ^ ^ ■ ' 'Vv ’ 'v - ^ * . . “ -7'..^':.., wiArf.- ^ > ff<5j ' ~ i ,» • ■ '’^i , V' '■ ■'-■ !(j^ y *•■ .T-'*- *' f ^Ifcy4i-.V J*. ,-^' :--<':''^^_l.c'. , - -.. :• ■-- -.. r ,.■ /■->; v.i..:...-.’^* .,:7^'-'. V\ ,Vi-w.»* • 1 . -rf ■. ■■ ' ^ *•' e,, .••■;' ■ , V ■ - .-' '.r •<1 '.'I •! » ■> . . V. ». I f *. I ;■ L ,'■ 1 •- i . • . , ■ „ t ,'■/ ■' ■ •■ ■ • . ■ - i - ■ ^ ■ ■* : ‘i « ■ fCf m ■ '■' *■% , . " “.v' ■'.^ ♦ ^ ■•’ '■•* m * ^ . ^ar . * ^ - s V * - •*:•> -I .■ L*' - .. Mjf'i V- J fc' ■ ■•>• tiW.** . - ‘ Vv-^.w-l '^V.vV f •f -•A ' *. r» r *T.V: '-•«.-# 3^ J* ' '•■ •»> rv . . ,A * ’’ ’ t *; ; ■• 1 '• -■<:!v .. ■.■!•. ^ ’ * i PUBLICATION ical production of literature. The programme is too large and the resources too limited to permit the scrapping of any existing forces or the diminishing of their work.” {Egyptian Report. ) In the vast Indian field the machinery for publication is well developed. Provincial surveys were recently made of the needs and provision of Christian literature in twelve lan¬ guage areas, and in each of these areas co-operative literature committees have been appointed. That is an immense advance, which is already bearing notable fruit. But as regards litera¬ ture for Moslems, a further step is needed. For the majority of these literature committees are appointed for great areas, in which the Moslem population forms only a small proportion of the whole. The general task is so great and absorbing that, without special help, these committees may be tempted to overlook the specialised needs of the Moslem fraction of the community. It is therefore suggested that the Special Committee for Work among Moslems which forms part, as do the provincial literature committees, of the machinery of the National Missionary Council, become a Central Committee for Literature for Moslems in India, supplying the provincial literature committees with material and inspiration for this part of their task. No new organisation is needed, but only the shouldering of a new task by the Special Committee, and the setting apart of one man to give full time to this central work. II. The Personnel of Publication Committees A literature committee as publisher in a Moslem country is a spender of money. As things are at present, this money comes from western sources. But it is being spent on behalf of an eastern people, and the success of the literature depends upon its response to the mental and spiritual attitude of that people. How then should the responsible spending committee be composed ? [215] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM No one will question that it must give full representation to the views of the various societies supplying the income. But should it not also represent the consumers? Should the Christians of the country have a voice on the committee, even before they have made the work their own by supporting it financially? Here the different areas reporting show different stages of thought. Where a mission is still pioneering, before the growth of an indigenous Church, the committee usually consists of missionaries alone, as is the case in Arabia, though even there a few Nestorian Christians are sharing in production, without yet sharing in committee responsibility. In China, members of the Chinese churches ‘^are members of committees having the same standing and rights as foreign members.’' And on the general literature committee for China it is a rule that half the membership must be Chinese. In India the thirty-nine Christian publishing societies show every variety of practice, but all provincial literature com¬ mittees value the Indian element in their counsels. The Egyptian report says : “It is evident that Egyptians should, with Syrians resident in Egypt, share, to a much larger extent, responsibility on pub¬ lication committees and literature societies, now almost wholly western in membership. Although there are a few Egyptians on publication committees, and some who co-operate heartily in the distribution of literature, there is as yet no sense in the Egyptian Church as a whole that she is responsible for this work.” Turkey lays down the principle that “he who pays the piper calls the tune.” “Theoretically we are in favour of the principle that those who share in the responsibility of literature production should also share in the cost of the work. We believe that those interested should not expect to have a vote in the management, unless they are willing to put some of their money into it. This principle has secured ready co-operation from the in¬ digenous Church along other lines of work.” Such a principle has its value in emphasising that the [216] PUBLICATION share of the people of the country must be a real and not an honorary one, if the work of Christian literature is to become, as it must, eventually theirs, and not the task of foreign mis¬ sionaries. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that in the production of literature, the provision of funds for publication is not the only form of contribution. Before it has shouldered the money burden of production, the indigenous Church may contribute authorship and a purchasing and dis¬ tributing constituency that make it an active partner in the work. The Egyptian report calls attention in this connection to the ancient Churches of the East, that still endure in Turkish and in Arabic-speaking lands. Where literature committees represent the productive energy, the spending power and the doctrinal views of one western society, there may be difficulty in admitting members of the Oriental Churches to share in the spending of money, given for society purposes only. This is inevitable, but it is a real weakness if it means that the East¬ ern Churches are not called to service, and any plans for fuller co-operation will be culpably weak if they do not seek to include the help of these our brothers. HI. Financing a Literature Committee A literature committee, then, may undertake the work of a publisher. But what publisher can build up a business with¬ out capital? This, literally has been the endeavour of many missionary publishing efforts, and it has been crippling to any strong forward policy. A special gift or grant has been sought to pay for each book as it was written. And here we must acknowledge the great services of The Bible Lands Missionary Aid Society, The Religious Tract Society, The American Tract Society, The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, The Scripture Gift Mission, The Milton Stewart Fund and, in recent years. The American Christian Literature Society for Moslems. Many of the beginnings made were possible only through their vision of this department of work, [217] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM and their liberality in supplying grants. But it was never their intention that the work of publication should be dependent entirely on their special and generally irregular grants. Such a hand-to-mouth existence has been stifling to the making of comprehensive plans, and to go-ahead business methods. The Syria report says : “Larger editions might reduce the cost of single copies of books and tracts, if the publishing agency were able to capitalise its undertakings, so as to make large editions possible.” The Indian report says : “There is no lack whatever of publication agencies and presses, both mission and commercial, for printing books and tracts for the Moslem community in this area. The only lack is that of funds to subsidise the undertaking. Again and again publishing committees are obliged to “pigeon-hole” good books and tracts which have been written with a definite Christian purpose, and which might be the means of winning many souls to Christ, simply because of no funds.” Grants from the ordinary mission boards for this work seem to be small, or absent altogether. “The evident aim is to make the work as far as possible self-supporting, either from sales, or from special subscriptions raised on the field. This fact of non¬ support from the Home Base is largely responsible for the failure of publishing agencies to take up new pieces of litera¬ ture for publication.” The demand that the work shall be as far as possible self- supporting is most reasonable and healthy, provided facts are faced and the impossible is not demanded. The reports seem to show that, given initial capital, much of the publication work might be self-supporting, providing always that the fol¬ lowing facts are recognised : 1. In many parts of the East the peculiar difficulties of circulation are such that this work will for many years need special financing. If the costs of colportage are reckoned, hardly any literature will be self-supporting. 2. It will probably be a necessary part of mission policy to make certain types of literature, if not free, at least below [218] PUBLICATION cost price. This latter is the deliberate policy of the Bible Societies, in countries where a demand has yet to be created, or where extreme poverty would otherwise hold back purchasers. Thus Singapore reports : “Hymnbooks pay for them¬ selves. Works under the head of general literature are sold at a slight profit. School textbooks pay for themselves. Evangelistic literature for Moslems needs to be subsidised.” India says: “All but one of the presses and societies reporting said that they were giving some tracts away free, and selling all or most literature below cost, because of the poverty of the people. This is a common practice through¬ out India.” Turkey says: “Self-supporting Christian literature con¬ sists chiefly of hymnbooks and school-books, for which there is a steady demand. If capital were supplied, periodicals could be made self-supporting. The evangelistic literature will prob¬ ably need a subsidy for many years to come.” Syria says : “Biographies and stories should be self-sup¬ porting, if gotten out in large and inexpensive editions, but literature of a more directly evangelical type, and in defence of Christianity, will need to be subsidised for a good while to come.” Egypt says : “It should be our aim to make all saleable Christian literature self-supporting, after working capital has been found — provided cost of distribution is taken off it.” The rub has come when this effort at self-support had to be made without working capital : North Africa says : “In finance, nothing has been properly organised exclusively for literature. The only society with a mission-board appropriation is the Methodist Episcopal Church. The rest work on the missionaries’ personal resources, grants- in-aid and special gifts. The lack of organisation, and the indi¬ vidual basis on which the missionaries of some societies are obliged to work, proves the greatest hindrance to the regular publication of literature.” In Egypt one of the greatest literature societies, the Nile [219] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Mission Press, for want of working capital has had to finance new literature either by rather spasmodic and uncertain gifts (sent out from home or begged from societies that give grants in aid), or by profits on English printing work. The serious¬ ness of having to use up all profits for the financing of new work is shown by their present report which says : “The plant and equipment are mostly in use since 1905 and are worn out. It would only be possible to replace and increase them by donations for that purpose, which are quite inadequate in quantity.” The impossible has been asked. It must be clearly recog¬ nised that either capital or a dependable subsidy is needed before a great publishing business can be built up. The North African report says: “For the evangelisation of the Moslems under our present conditions, literature must always be produced and distributed at a loss, but at no greater expense and with as much result as is the case in other branches of organised mission work. Literature ought to be provided for in budgets on an equal footing with other kinds of effort. The results would be as great as from other types of expenditure.” The Malaysian report says : “Funds would have to be supplied from the home bases. The missions on the field are so pressed for funds to support their existing work, that they would not be likely to consent to set aside a part of their appropriations for producing new literature for the Mohammedans.” IF. Suggested Solutions India and China have perhaps found a working solution for the rest of us. In connection with the joint literature committees recently established, the Home Boards have volun¬ tarily agreed among themselves to tax their incomes at a ratio of a few shillings for every thousand pounds expended in India, and to place this money at the disposal of the central literature committee. [220] PUBLICATION The Home Boards have thus recognised that literature must have a permanent place in their budget. They have also recognised that, by making use of a joint committee as publisher, they can obtain greater results from a much smaller expenditure than if each board acted alone. This method helps to provide against the danger, common to all deputed work, of losing the enthusiasm of the unit, — a danger which is lessened in proportion as the work costs each unit directly. Each representative of a missionary society will now have the sense that he is spending his society's money; and he must be ready to account to his society for the work undertaken. At the same time such a method does nothing to lessen the effectiveness of individual mission presses and literature societies that collect funds at home. No new appeal is put before the public. It is merely quietly affirmed that literature is a regular part of the missionary task. The reflex effect should be the strengthening of any existing literary societies in the field, by means of new work and new expenditure, for which they would in most cases be the natural channels. Generous special gifts collected or given by indi¬ viduals to pay for the publication of special books will be as welcome as ever. Such a scheme does not make a literature committee rich, or place it in a position to carry out all its aims. But it does save it from being entirely at the mercy of spasmodic giving, and enable it to think and plan more steadily than when it lives only from hand to mouth. It is probable too that societies that give grants in aid for literature will be glad to find as the channel for their gifts a responsible committee representing all the Christian forces in any field, and preparing and budgetting for comprehensive schemes. Two notes of warning need to be sounded: a. Former methods have trained many missionaries in bad habits that are not easily broken. It is written of one society, which, while keeping the control in the hands of its home committee, invited the co-operation of others on its publication committees on the field : “Owing to the general policy of central control, these committees are ignorant as to the finance of the work, and [221] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM have not the habit of submitting a budget for the work they want done. They live from hand to mouth and would be unable to give any idea of the cost of the literature undertaken for the next six months.” If a committee is to be the recipient of a regular grant, however small, it will have to recognise the importance of a definite budget, and a definite report on work done. Without this it cannot command the confidence or the enthusiasm of the Home Boards. b. With all carefully planned work arises a certain danger of loss of elasticity. Plans and budgets are necessary for quiet, economical, united work. But the partners on the home boards and the partners abroad must realise that, in the pro¬ duction of Christian literature, they reach out to mysterious realms beyond the control of budgets. Some great, sweeping movement of the Spirit of God may in any year call for imme¬ diate revision of plans. Or, once in the centuries, God may send to some little Christian group in Moslem lands, a writer or an artist of genius. Then our careful planning may have to be laid aside, that we may make the most of this unex¬ pected better gift of God. This does not excuse the planners among us from drawing up their budget; the power to plan is also a gift of His; it only makes bounden upon us all who touch this work a mental and spiritual elasticity, and readi¬ ness to see the guidance of the Giver of all gifts. Another important suggestion with regard to the finance of a literature committee comes from North Africa: ‘‘Each mission or responsible individual should undertake as far as possible to buy at cost price a certain proportion of each edition published, according to its needs.” Such a suggestion encroaches on the question of circula¬ tion which belongs to the next chapter, but it has also its relationship to the question of production. Guarantees secured beforehand often enable a committee to venture upon a larger edition, and produce more cheaply. This has been proved in China where the costly production of a Bible Dictionary was thus very greatly lessened. The method also provides a rough and ready means of feeling the pulse of the buying constit- [222] PUBLICATION uency, since only small orders will be given for books of which the societies are not really desirous. At the same time, the permanent value of a work cannot always be tested by the number of copies which the societies are ready to order^at any given moment. V. T he Publisher and the Printer Having accepted a book and obtained funds for its pub¬ lication, how shall the literature committee print it? Can the commercial press of a Moslem land be used, or is it desirable to work through a mission press ? The answer is very various in different lands. Where there is a long story of missionary effort a mission press was often a part of pioneer work, and sometimes the first press introduced into the country. Now that a busy commercial press is also at work it often holds its own as a reliable press for the literature of the Christian Church. CHINA Both ends of the story are seen in the area covered by the Chinese report. Thus in Chinese Turkestan the Swedish Mis¬ sion Press is the only one in the land. With the aid of the Bible Society it is the printer of the Bible and of all the pioneer literature brought out by the mission in Kashgar Turki. On the other hand in China proper, amid a large and busy commercial printing trade, are several great Christian presses that began life as little mission efforts. “Printing and bookbinding in all branches,” says the re¬ port, “are the daily business of the Chinese Religious Tract Society, Hankow, from whence all our publications are issued.” INDIA Mission presses are numerous and preferred, but a com¬ mercial press is available. “Twenty-one presses under individual missionary societies [223]^ CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM are listed, and there are undoubtedly others. Non-Christian publishing houses and presses abound. Though they are found chiefly in the large cities like Calcutta, Bombay and Lahore, yet the smaller towns and cities in the Moslem areas have their presses. Besides, a Hindu press never hesitates to publish a Moslem book, even if it is written against Hinduism. The work is the usual lithograph type, and fairly good as a rule; but, for the most part, these presses cannot compete with ours for quality and variety. There are certain publica¬ tions which we prefer to have printed by our mission presses, and we would not give these out. The charges of the com¬ mercial press would probably make the working losses on our publications larger than they are at present. Nevertheless, the fact that commercial presses can do the work we require is proved by the private productions of individual missionaries in the area under review.’' MALAYSIA Mission presses are well equipped ; the commercial press is not yet equal to the work. Although in Java there are active publishing houses, both Dutch and Chinese, the mission presses have great prestige for the quality of their work. In Singapore, the Methodist Episcopal Press reports : ‘‘The Publishing House is mechanically equal to all de¬ mands, and financially strong. It may safely be said that if we had relied on the commercial presses little or nothing would have been accomplished. The local native printing presses are very poorly equipped and badly managed, so that the poems and stories which they have produced (usually lithographed), are very illegible and unattractive. Eventually we shall have to have a printing establishment in Java as the Singapore plant is too far off to supply success¬ fully the needs of Java, especially in periodical literature. The difficulty of proof-reading at such a distance is also very great, the spelling being different from that used in Singapore, and the very important languages of Java being practically unknown there.” [224] PUBLICATION SYRIA The mission press has prestige and equipment; a commer¬ cial press is available. In Syria the Catholic Press of the Jesuit Fathers at Beirut and the American Press under the Presbyterians in the same city have in their respective spheres a reputation and a dignity beyond any other publishing agency in the land, and have almost a monopoly of Christian publishing. The Syrian report says that no private publishing by any missionary is recorded. Turkish censorship made this practically impossible in the past. The work now would as a matter of course go through the American Press, of which the Egyptian report tells us further : “Its broad policy and large sympathy with all types of missionary work, have offset any impressions of exclusive¬ ness which might attach to its independent organisation; and it is stated that, in connection with the one hundredth anni¬ versary of its founding, the door is to be opened in its con¬ stitutional basis for any mission that wishes to share in its development and direction to do so.’^ Besides its great Arabic work, the Beirut Press has re¬ cently undertaken the printing of some of the beginnings of literature in Sart Turki for Russian Turkestan, making spe¬ cial type for the purpose. This press also made the special type necessary for Bishop Brent’s publication work for the Moros of the Philippine Islands. EGYPT Strong mission and commercial presses are available. “The commercial press in Egypt is highly developed, yet for the present, the special needs of Christian literature would seem to require the Christian presses now in existence. Co¬ operation on a larger scale would make possible the use of the secular press for job-work in the case of large editions, and the employment of artists and designers.” The Nile Mission Press has a two-fold existence which is [225] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM of the greatest service in a centre like Cairo. It is on the one hand an independent publication society, incorporated by law, with strictly defined articles, and a London Committee in which resides the final authority as to its publications. But it is also ready to serve, as printer, the needs of all missions. It reports that in sixteen years, it printed two and a half million copies of its own publications, but seven million copies for other societies. It is of peculiar importance to have such a serviceable Christian press in a centre like Cairo. While local societies might be able to avail themselves of the Cairo commercial press, there are outlying regions of the Arabic world, which look to Cairo for their supplies of literature, and, being at a distance, are not in a position to make their bar¬ gains with the regular commercial press of the East, but need the services of a Christian printer devoted to their interests. Thus the Arabic part of bilingual ( Arabo-Chinese) tracts for China is printed at the Nile Mission Press, and the Arabian Mission also relies on it as the printer of most of its publications. ARABIA The commercial press is hostile and there is no mission press. ‘‘Only the Government press can be used. The others are too much under Moslem restrictions to print Christian litera¬ ture. We use the Nile Mission Press, Cairo largely.” NORTH AFRICA There is no mission press; but a commercial press is available. “Printing and binding are done by the commercial press. The publishing houses will be ready to print any publication that the missions need, either in French or in Arabic.” TURKEY There is no mission press; but a commercial press is available. [226] A CO-EDUCATIONAL MOSLEM SCHOOL AT PADANG, SUMATRA This School was Founded in 1915, and in 1922 Enx'olled 800 Pupils. It is a Private Enterprise Supported by Government Grants. Notice the Use of Pictures on the Walls. PUBLICATION “The commercial press can meet the needs of all mission publishing agencies of our field satisfactorily.” PERSIA The mission presses are small, and the commercial press is inadequate. “The commercial press does mediocre work, and is ham¬ pered occasionally by the censorship. At Ispahan, however, Christian leaflets have recently been printed in the town.” Thus the gamut is run from places like Kashgar, where no press but the mission press exists, to places like Constanti¬ nople where, after deliberation, the missionary publishers have decided that, for economy’s sake, they will not involve them¬ selves in the capital outlay and the responsibility involved in a printing establishment. Most of the mission presses were started, either because no other press existed, or because the existent press was too hostile to accept Christian publications, or again to provide work for converts and orphans with no means of livelihood. They work to-day amid a rapidly in¬ creasing commercial press. Although the first reason for their existence has in many cases vanished, they yet do im¬ portant service by their very existence as business firms con¬ ducted upon Christian principles. Useful as this may be to the community, it is important that a mission press exercise careful supervision as to the nature of job-work accepted. Otherwise in an eastern city it would be only too easy for work to go out bearing a mission press imprint but anti-Christian in tendency. To missionary publishing committees the presence of a mission press under sympathetic and reliable management is a tremendous asset. Especially is this the case where work (like that of the missionaries in Arabia) must be entrusted by the authors to presses at a distance. The missionaries of Persia have had some manuscript reproduced by facsimile process in America. If other presses are not available or not adequate it may be desirable, follow¬ ing the example of the Persians themselves, who in troublous days have influenced their country politically by literature pub- [227] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM lished in Russia, Cairo or Berlin, to print Persian Christian literature outside the country. This might be in Lahore, where the Punjab Religious Book Society already lists about fifteen Persian titles. It would be the less deplorable from the fact that there are possibly as many readers of the great Persian language outside Persia as within her. On the whole, in spite of the grateful acceptance of the services of existing mission presses, the tendency seems against the establishment of fresh ones, owing to the rapid growth of the commercial press. Yet let no literature committee imagine that in avoiding the responsibility of a press, it has avoided the need for a business manager. The committee sys¬ tem of publishing may be almost as wasteful of creative energy as the old individual, haphazard plan, unless it is recognised that there must be provision for the business side of the pub¬ lisher’s task. Before publication, in dealing with estimates, paper-buying, block-making, prices; after publication in deal¬ ing with storage, cataloguing, advertising, orders and cus¬ tomers, despatch and distribution, and in half a score of other directions, business handling may save or wreck the usefulness of creative work. Where a publishing committee can only claim the whole services of one missionary, some question whether he should not be rather a business manager than an author or editor. “The American Board pays the salary of one man who is supposed to give all his time to the oversight of publication work. This man should be more of a business manager than a writer.” {Turkish Report,) “The one thing necessary to put life into this organisation is the appointment of some one man to devote his whole time to the work of the committee, a man on whose heart is laid the burden of carrying the Gospel to Moslems. Such men exist but they are not numerous and no one is free to devote his whole time to the organisation of nation-wide work for Moslems.” {Chinese Report.) Tasks of authorship and editorship (except the perpetual editorship involved in periodicals) can sometimes be carried out by temporary loans of workers, and extra efforts on the [228] PUBLICATION part of busy men; but the business care and initiative which a new literature demands, must early become some one’s first duty if it is to prosper, under the peculiarly difficult conditions surrounding Christian literature for Moslems in most east¬ ern lands. VI. The Publisher and Pictures Illustrations are a vital part of a literature that is to reach out and teach children, and the half-literate, and a de¬ sirable part of most literature that is to have a popular sale. A cover design may almost make or mar a book. In many lands we hear of the breakdown of the old Moslem prejudice against pictures. In some parts of the Moslem world where the press is adequate for other types of work, it still depends for pic¬ tures upon block-makers or colour-printers in Europe or America. This is still the case in Cairo, where line blocks can be passably made, but locally made half-tone blocks are still execrable, and only the crudest flat colour blocks can be ob¬ tained with considerable difficulty. No three-colour work is yet done locally. It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that coloured pictures are not obtained and used in Cairo for ordinary commercial purposes. Large Cairo firms, for in¬ stance, buy European-printed colour designs for covers of sale catalogues, and add only the letter-press in Cairo. If Christian literature in Cairo is to be well illustrated, as it should be (for apart from the teaching value of the pictures colporteurs report that no books sell like those with a coloured picture on the cover), the producers must either have relations with reputable firms of blockmakers and colour-printers out¬ side the country, or they must take steps for the development of these lines of work within the country. Egypt is not alone in finding difficulty in this direction. The present costliness of colour-lithography in North Africa has reduced the Algiers Mission Band to the use of black and white; while Malaysia says: [229] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM ‘‘Coloured illustrations would greatly add to the attractive¬ ness of books and pamphlets, and should be produced at home, in a style suitable for all Moslem lands/' This suggestion seems to contemplate a combination for the securing of artistic work, as well as for its reproduction. The Egyptian report also says : “Co-operation on a larger scale would make possible the use of artists and designers." Here is a side on which our literature in most countries is lamentably weak, and often in danger of being outclassed. Pictures are more than a bait to sell literature. In Christian hands they may be a real way to bring truth home. Probably there is need of some informal combination among us to fill up that in which we are lacking. This would have a business side on which it might be combined with the business man¬ agement of the proposed Press Bureau. It would also have an artistic side for which an editor, or a share in an editor of artistic sympathy would be a necessity. Combination might help along the following lines : 1. Securing of special terms with a reputable block-maker and colour-printer. 2. Securing of service (possibly voluntary) in London and other centres in finding suitable topical and informational electros for illustrating magazine articles, etc. 3. Arrangement of free loan of blocks between the va¬ rious co-operating committees, lists and proof copies being available at some central place. 4. Sharing the services of an artist or artists to produce cover-designs and illustrations true to the east, and to develop indigenous artistic contributions, working always for the day when a true eastern school of Christian art shall arise. [230] Chapter XIII CIRCULATION ^ The number of human beings in the world who know little or nothing of Christ is more impressive than the annual output of all literature agencies com- bined, even if the output be expressed in pages. The existing organisations with all their activity have only touched the very fringe of the world's need. — Dr. Ritson. In this word lies the key to our success or failure. The reports of the survey give an impression of much devoted amateur help in circulation; more perhaps than any other lit¬ erature can command. But they also give a picture of undi¬ rected work and a rather general reliance on amateur help, where there was need, in addition, of trained thought and skill. Parts of our literature are generally acceptable, and almost move by their own momentum. Other parts are secure of some circulation through their link with organised work (hymnbooks and school books). But for much Christian lit¬ erature in the Moslem world we have to create a demand in the teeth of adverse circumstances. This is true of any educational scheme of publishing with a product just ahead of popular taste. How much more then is it true of a Chris¬ tian literature in a Moslem world! ^ The report from Egypt, and notably a memorandum from Mr. Upson of the Nile Mission Press, supplies so many details that a disproportionate amount of attention may seem lavished upon that country in this chapter. This is deliberate ; not that the questions are more urgent in Egypt than in other Moslem lands; perhaps Egypt has gone further than her sister lands to solve them — but because examples taken from this one Moslem field show up conditions and difficulties which are reported in less detail from other countries, and which concern us all. [231] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM I. A dverse Factors There are difficulties in circulation that would fairly daunt a home publisher. The Egyptian report speaks for many parts of the Moslem world when it says, “The organised book trade hardly yet exists in Egypt.” That implies that there is no ready-made channel for distribution through wholesale and retail booksellers; and in such circumstances the missionary producers have to hew out their own channels, as well as providing the water to run through them. “Practically the only method of circulation,” continues the Egyptian report, “is colportage, and colportage invariably more than swamps all profits.” If there are difficulties in Egypt, where, within reasonable limits there is freedom of the press, how much more is this the case in unsettled regions, where government officials, not unnaturally suspicious of outside influences, may on any day prohibit the circulation of Christian literature. To the immeasurable hindrance of the prevailing illiteracy in many lands must often be added a general level of poverty undreamed of at home. Turkey, for instance, even in times of comparative peace when her roads are open to the book¬ seller, has all the poverty of a land criss-crossed with old war¬ paths and the trails of fugitives. Another factor of difficulty is the religious prejudice that so naturally puts the Christian book under suspicion in a Mos¬ lem country; and this is often strengthened by a sense of political hostility between the Moslem East and the so-called Christian West. In Egypt “anti-British feeling, due to the present political situation, is reported in some quarters to have aroused sus¬ picion against books of foreign origin, especially if they bear the imprint of a Christian press.” While in India, “An unfavourable factor is the Khalifat agitation in con¬ nection with the Turkish peace, and the feeling that the whole Moslem world is suffering a great wrong at the hands of [232] CIRCULATION England, and indeed of the whole Christian world. The na¬ tionalist movement in India is to a certain extent anti-Christian as well as anti-British.” Syria strikes a rather similar note in its very discriminat¬ ing contribution. “Unfavourable to the circulation of Christian literature is the quickened racial and religious consciousness of Moslems, along with other peoples, after the war, and a feeling on the part of Moslems that Christian nations have shown themselves insincere.” This natural tendency to judge of Christianity by the con¬ duct of the so-called Christians of Europe is reported in other places as well : “If only the spirit of Christ ruled in the life and attitude of nominal Christians, the work would be easier, for the European element exercises a greater influence than is usually thought.” {Algerian Report.) Added to all the difficulties set forth above, is the fact that in many parts of the Moslem world communications are slow, difficult and uncertain beyond anything dreamed of by a home publisher in distributing his product. The brigand-infested mule-paths of Persia or Western China, the steamy river- creeks of West Africa or Malaysia, the vast distances of the Sudan or of Turkestan and Siberia, all enter into the problem. Yet when the worst is said, not one report but holds that favourable factors far outweigh unfavourable; that to-day there is hunger for reading, and in spite of staggering diffi¬ culties, the opportunity is ours as never before. With all that, the recitation of such obstacles shows a problem of circula¬ tion which calls for the utmost care and ingenuity of the ex¬ pert. If publishers at home need specialists in the art of advertisement; if they throw a proportion of their capital and energy into the creation and conservation of a constituency, how much more must the mission publisher in a Moslem land find it necessary to take advantage of these legitimate means of promoting the development of a supporting public! [233] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM II. Methods of Circulation FREE DISTRIBUTION Certain societies and individuals, recognising literature as an evangelistic force, make grants for the purpose of its free distribution. It is interesting to note the trend of opinion on the question of free literature : China. “Our books are sold, at about half the cost of production, to missionaries who circulate them by sale and gift. The missionary gives some away at his own cost. Judi¬ cious free distribution is all right. Indiscriminate distribution is objectionable. We lose on the production of the book; the missionary loses on its distribution. We sell the books under cost, because we are not trying to supply a demand but to carry the Gospel to Moslems.” Malaysia. “Free grants of literature are sometimes made to missionaries, who distribute at street meetings and per¬ sonal interviews; but very little of our product is given away free. The missionaries generally have decided to follow the policy of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in regard to selling Christian literature rather than giving it away.” Arabia. “Practically all tract literature is given away free, but some is sold for a nominal sum. Moslems appreciate it more if they pay something for it, and are more likely to read it. Grants from tract societies and the A.C.L.S.M. meet the cost of distribution.” Turkey. “The general poverty of the people makes it very difficult to circulate literature, except by giving it away. But the only part of the product of the publication depart¬ ment which is regularly given away freely, consists of tracts which are published with the intention of free distribution — about 20 per cent of the product. For the rest, the method has been to try to get back at least the cost of publication.” North Africa. “We sell wherever we can. Sometimes a tract or illustrated Gospel is given away to a purchaser of [234] CIRCULATION a Scripture portion, or to any one interested, with whom we have had an interview.” The principle adopted is to sell wherever possible; but in some cases, as among a fanatical section of the population, it is much if one can get a person to accept and read. There seems to be a general agreement with the principle of the Bible Societies that most literature should be sold, — even though, in view of extreme poverty, it is sometimes sold at less than the cost of production, — rather than given away. There is also evidently a considerable amount of departure from this principle in daily practice, — whether owing to pov¬ erty or to fanaticism which holds back purchasers. Many missionaries spend larger sums than can easily be spared from their own salaries, in order to have literature to give as a per¬ sonal present to friends, visitors and enquirers. USE OF FUNDS FOR FREE LITERATURE Generous gifts from various sources have, from time to time, been made for the distribution of free evangelistic litera¬ ture. There is a certain type of effectiveness, as advertise¬ ment, in deluging a city or district with free handbills. At the same time the method is a costly one. It is like the wind pollenation of some trees, with an immense quantity of pollen cast upon the air, some of which myriad grains are sure to do their fertilising work, while thousands of others reach the ground and leave us wondering at Nature’s generous over¬ productiveness. The individual work of the bee involves higher organisms, but far more certain results with far less expenditure of pollen. Both methods are justifiable, but in the present state of missionary finances, free literature should as far as possible be used individually. India reports its use in connection with the sale of Chris¬ tian books; there is a certain fitness in the fact that the man who buys a Gospel should receive with it an evangelical appeal ; the man who is interested enough to buy a Christian book has something further to focus his interest : “Individual missionaries report that they use coloured pic- [235] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM tures or handbills for free distribution in connection with the sale of books, and that this often bears fruit. The Milton Stewart tracts have been widely used in this manner.” {Indian Report.) Probably the ideal, though involving more direction than has hitherto been given to this matter, would be that a litera¬ ture committee, with a grant for free literature at its disposal, should deliberately canvass the whole area which it represents, apportion its grant into small sums, and offer literature, to the value of these amounts, to individual workers up and down the country, giving no one an overwhelming quantity, and as far as possible offering a choice of tracts to the indi¬ vidual worker. Some workers send a consecutive series of tracts through the post to Moslem friends, others use a con¬ secutive series for distribution in connection with a set of lessons. There may be some place for the big ‘‘drives” when litera¬ ture is given broadcast, but these will be only at times and places of special opportunity. A group of experienced workers in Damascus, for instance, during the weeks before the start¬ ing of the Hajj, when the streets are full of strangers from remotest Moslem districts, might scatter literature far and wide ; but more care and skill in planning would be needed than has yet been put into such work. BOOKSHOPS In India, where comparatively little reliance is placed on colportage, mission presses nearly all have their own book¬ shops located in some large city like Lahore or Calcutta. Here all the publications of the Press are stocked, and usually, also, the most important literature of other mission presses of the language area. Large supplies of general and religious litera¬ ture in English from America and England will also be found. At this large shop, tracts and books are sold over the counter, or mail orders are filled and despatched to missionaries far and wide over the area it serves. Sometimes it has been the practice for missionaries them- [236] CIRCULATION selves to open small bookshops and reading rooms for Mos¬ lems in their stations, like that in connection with the English Baptist Mission in Dacca, Bengal ; but these as a rule have not succeeded, and at present probably not more than two or three at most are to be found in all India. “Very seldom apparently is there a person or shop or reading room set apart for special work among Moslems” {Indian Report.) In other Moslem countries, while the larger publishing societies may have sale depots at their printing headquarters (as in Singapore, Java, Beirut, and Cairo), the Christian bookshop, like the rest of distribution, is largely dependent on the initiative and amateur care of the missionary, already busy with a hundred other things. As a rule a bookshop so managed does not pay. Neither the discount nor the demand are large enough to support much outlay. “Missionary bookshops have been tried for many years and have not been successful except perhaps in the sale of school books. The present tendency seems to be that after another year only two Mission bookshops will be left (outside of Cairo), in place of the eight that were in operation a few years ago. Mr. Caldwell, the American Mission Book Agent, says that his shops cost more than colporteurs and sell much less. (A. T. Upson, Egypt.) The superintendent of colpor¬ teurs in Palestine is equally insistent that a shop, besides involving expenditure on rent, ties up a worker or workers, who would dispose of more books if they tramped the country¬ side. On the other hand a shop, like everything else, yields more or less of result according to the personal power put into it. Even in Aden, the bookshop of the Danish Mission is flourishing, because one missionary puts his heart and soul into it. Any one passing the bookshops of a Moslem city can see at once that they are not only shops, but reading centres. A friend of the proprietor or a prospective purchaser squats in a corner poring over a book. Advantage has been taken of this habit by various missionaries, who combine a bookshop with a room, where men can read and talk. In Damascus, [237] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM an important and hitherto neglected distribution centre, the Danish mission has opened such a reading-room-shop. Some of the leading Arabic newspapers are always there, together with Christian papers like Orient and Occident and Beshair es Salam, and a good stock of books. A rather similar ven¬ ture is being made in Stamboul. In the city of Fez one of the small group of converts from Islam is conducting, as a private venture, a shop for the sale of Christian books and of medi¬ cines. In ‘Iraq, where “Bible shops in all stations have a supply of other Christian literature for sale and free distribu¬ tion,” the shop in Kuweit was opened also as one of these reading and conversation centres. “Arabic newspapers and the Illustrated London News were on the table. There was complete freedom of speech for everybody.” Does such a bookshop-reading-room pay? Financially, no. As an evange¬ listic agency it is fairly true to say that it pays in proportion to the love and power and tact put into it. The bookshop, it has been said, was one of the main keys to open East Arabia to mission work. Where an evangelistic missionary believes in literature, and also needs a city centre whence he can make personal contacts, perhaps using an inner room for small classes and discussion circles, such a bookshop may “pay” spiritually, though it may not sell more books than would an active pedlar with his pack. Some of the mission bookshops of the past have deserved to fail. The small stock of goods has not been well displayed, but locked for safety. No novelty has attracted faces to the window. Mr. Upson tells us that some of the Moslem Arabic bookshops of Cairo list as many as 2000 different books. Where our total from all sources can only reach a few hun¬ dred — exclusive of small leaflets for free distribution, — we need to make the most of each novelty as it comes along. In Jerusalem, cheap, coloured Bible pictures attracted non-Chris¬ tian purchasers into a bookshop. What we have sometimes done is to put in charge of a bookshop a Christian worker of eastern birth, quite untrained to his trade. We have given him a shop with a glass window. He might have known what to do with a carpet on which the neighbours sat, drank coffee [238] CIRCULATION and thumbed his books ; but for the better preservation of our stock, we gave him a glass window, cupboards and a counter, and we left him in his semi-western shop, quite untrained to western methods of display and attraction. Moreover, we gave him a small fixed salary, not dependent on the success of his trade. The little shop grew dusty, and the worker grew bored, and we decided that bookshops were expensive and not worth while. Turkey encouraged initiative on the part of the salesman by making his income, at least in part, dependent on his sales : *‘The method generally used has been to have a store or depot in each mission station, supplied from the centre in Constantinople, some one missionary having the oversight of the book department, as it is called. The work of selling the literature was given to some native Christian, who made a profit on the books sold, varying from 15-20 per cent of the catalogue price, and rendered a monthly report to the mis¬ sionary in charge.” {Turkish Report.) Since distribution is, at the best, bound to be costly, com¬ mission to the salesman may be one of the most economical methods of expenditure, for it is not involved without an actual result in books sold. There remains one more type of bookshop to mention, which, with fuller European contacts, will probably need to be developed in the great centres of intercourse and popula¬ tion. In cities where European bookshops are displaying all the least desirable elements of European literature, it is vital that at least one bookstore shall display both Christian re¬ ligious books from Europe, and also (in eastern cities, which so readily accept the thinnest veneei of western culture) works of moment, and of serious thought on all manner of topics. Such a store is desirable, not only for the European elements of the population, cut off as they are from many of the moral sanctions of their home lands, but for the whole class of western-educated Moslems. And such a store, in connection with the organised book-trade of Europe, may, with ordinary [239] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM commercial skill, be made to pay, if it be opened in a suffi¬ ciently populous centre. The Rev. Percy Smith, of Algiers, says : ‘T brought back from Egypt the idea firmly fixed in my mind, of the supreme importance and necessity of a Christian bookstore. I do not mean a small Bible depot; we have several of these already; but a bookstore well stocked with all the best French and Arabic religious literature. I believe we ought to consider eventually establishing such a store in each of our principal stations. The C.M.S. bookshop in Cairo made me envious. It is furnished with a great assortment of English books, religious, theological, instructive and recreative. There is not such a store in all Algeria and Tunisia, where you can find exposed to view the best French works on religion. In a bookstore of this kind could be stocked all that is best of Arabic literature. We must not forget that Arabic-speaking Chris¬ tians have produced a considerable literature which is of great value. By this means, one could establish a point of contact with Arab literates. Such a store would be an intellec¬ tual and religious centre for the European, Arab and Kabyle.” CIRCULATION BY MISSIONARIES AND ASSOCIATE WORKERS Curiously enough, the very existence of a group of amateur helpers in the missionary body, eager for the circulation of literature, has sometimes prevented a serious dealing with the question. The missionaries have been the chief purchasers and the chief distributors of literature : and editions have been largely limited by the probable quantity that missionary purchasers will absorb. ‘‘Most of the Nile Mission Press books are sold to twenty or thirty other lands and the mail order system has been found very successful,” says the memorandum already quoted. “The geographic areas in which the natural constituency for work is found are Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt, North Africa, Persia, India, the Philippines, and the Syrian communities of North and South America and the British Empire,” says the report from the Beirut Press. [240] CIRCULATION These sentences indicate that, in the case of the two great¬ est producing bodies of the Near East, the bulk of the product is disposed of in export trade. But who are the purchasers in foreign parts? With so few exceptions as to be almost negligible they are the missionaries. As a European publisher disposes of his stock to the bookselling trade, so the missionary publisher (except in so far as he has developed bookshop or colportage work of his own) has disposed of his stock to the missionary. The bulk of the product has been distributed by the voluntary, amateur effort of the missionary. All honour to him ! His methods as a distributor have been many. Missionaries have little bookshops; they enclose tracts in letters; they sell books from a Bible van {Algeria) from houseboats {Egypt) or a special car on the railways {Egypt). They use the Sunday schools as a base for distribution {The Sudan and many other countries) ; they keep a supply in their own homes; they take them out for sale in villages or outly¬ ing districts. The Indian Report says : “To-day, perhaps a greater number of gospels and tracts and books for Moslems find their way to their intended des¬ tination by the hand of the missionary and his Indian co¬ worker than by any other way. The modern missionary, in starting out for a tour in his “Ford” does not fail to see that it is stocked with a generous supply of Gospels and tracts for sale and distribution in the bazaars, villages and melas where he goes to preach. In fact, all over India, the aim is for every evangelistic missionary and Indian worker to he a colporteur and distribution centre for Gospels, books and tracts. Consequently, it would be hard to find a missionary engaged in evangelistic work, who does not religiously keep one or two almirahs well stocked with a fairly extensive variety of literature, which he systematically supplies to his workers for sale and free distribution. When the missionary and his fellow workers go to the bazaars and melas or 'urses large quantities of literature are disposed of annually. At such time, a common method is to have a central place for preaching, and the men take turns [241] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM for five or ten minutes each, when at the close, an exhortation is given to read the Kitab 'al Muqaddas. This is the signal for all the workers present to begin to move about, to sell and distribute their books for ten or fifteen minutes, when the preaching begins again. This method is successful, and is strongly recommended.” Travelling missionaries in many lands form a sort of flying squadron for the distribution of literature, seeking new points of entry. Thus the report says, ‘‘Christian literature has entered the Hedjaz only through the occasional visits of missionaries or colporteurs at Jiddah, and through the pilgrimages.” Or again, in the Sahara : “It has been possible to open Touzer at the southwest extremity of Tunisia, a station which is itself the centre of a large group of oases, and in its turn much linked with another large group five days further on into the desert, called the Oued Souf. These desert towns, of which Touzer is the first to be opened, are the headquarters of the Moslem brother¬ hoods which are the chief force of propaganda. The men are great readers and accept willingly the tracts of the Nile Mis¬ sion Press. This is the most practical way, at present of reaching the hinterland whence the advance of Islam on pagan lands is made.” {Algerian Mission Band Report.) MISSION HOSPITALS AS CENTRES OF DISTRIBUTION The hospitals along the northwest frontier of India, drawing many patients from beyond the frontier, have sent these back into Afghanistan and Beluchistan with Christian booklets. The hospitals at Old Cairo and at Assiut are large purchasers of literature; Egyptian mission hospitals devised also a scheme of simple instruction for out-patients, and a series of leaflets for distribution in direct connection with the lessons. The lesson and leaflet reinforced each other, a point of great importance when one remembers the very fleet¬ ing contact that we gain with the mind of the average out-patient. At the Nablus Hospital, Palestine, the doctor has a per- [242] 1 CIRCULATION sonal interview of farewell with every patient upon his leav¬ ing. This has often been used as an opportunity for sending a Christian booklet to a village home, or out beyond the Jor¬ dan. In many hospitals books are offered for sale. “Many patients come after the morning service in the mission hos¬ pital, Aden, and voluntarily offer to purchase one of the Gos¬ pels, if not a larger book. The ''Khutbas'' published by the Nile Mission Press are eagerly read.” Persia has carried this method further still. The doctor in charge at Ispahan writes : “We have opened a bookroom and reading-room in the hospital. Any visitors to the hospital can go there and read books, and also buy copies of the Scriptures and other re¬ ligious books. The room was opened at the beginning of May, 1919, and in the seven months from that date to the end of November, we had 964 visitors to the room, either as purchasers or readers. We have sold also 273 Scriptures, or portions of Scripture, and eighty-six copies of other re¬ ligious books and tracts. The room has also opened the way for many conversations on religious topics. At first the room was not in a very prominent part of the hospital, but we have lately moved it to the porch, and I hope that in future we shall get still more visitors and sell more books.” COLPORTAGE The very existence of a force of voluntary helpers, in the missionary body that has done so great a work of purchasing and distribution, has perhaps hindered the publication societies from a more effective cultivation of their own direct touch with the public. The great method for such direct sale is by colportage. Almost every field from China westward reports the use of this plan, whether by the missionary societies or by the publication bodies themselves, and nearly every field re¬ ports also a desire for its immediate increase. “Two colporteurs as mission agents in each central station would be none too much.” {North African Report.) “In our island world of Malaysia, many of the people [243] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM live in places exceedingly difficult of access by the missionaries, and we believe that our scattered population can best be reached by the printed page. The success of the British and Foreign Bible Society in its widespread colportage work, the equally successful experiments of the mission at Solo, and the increasing readiness of the various races in Malaysia to pur¬ chase the Scripture portions which have been distributed by tens of thousands for the past thirty years, encourage us to believe that a similar distribution of carefully prepared books and tracts would be the best possible means of reaching the Moslems of Malaysia.” {Malaysia Report.) In Palestine and in Persia, also, colportage is possible and effective, provided that there is willingness to face risks. A missionary of the Bible Society recently wrote “At Kum which is a sacred city with the Moslems of Persia, one col¬ porteur sold over fifty volumes in a couple of days; but he added “I was beaten thrice as the people took me for a Bahai.” India is the only country which reports no desire for an increase of the colportage system. But let none misunder¬ stand the intention of the Indian report. India is not asking for more professional colporteurs, because she has gone further and adopted the valuable principle ‘‘Every mission worker a colporteur.’’ Recently when in Sindh it was im¬ possible, owing to political conditions, for foreign mission¬ aries to continue bazaar work, Indian Christians went out regularly at the preaching hour and most successfully carried on the sale of Christian literature. Mr. Upson, in his important memorandum on the question of circulation in Egypt, lays bare for us a situation demanding instant action. He says that missionaries are asking for “greater production,” and colporteurs are “always clamouring for new books,” while his publication committee turns down more than half the manuscripts submitted to it by Egyptian friends. Yet with all this, he speaks of a “glut” on the store shelves of the Nile Mission Press, and feels that “production has been too rapid.” Too rapid, when the whole output of this central Arabic Christian Press, its whole library on all [244] CIRCULATION available subjects can be bought for £5? Too rapid, when missionaries who best know the field are all eager for far- reaching new developments of literature? Yes, too rapid, because effective plans for circulation have not gone on hand in hand with the growth of literature. In the country in which it works, the Nile Mission Press, together with the other literature-producing societies circulates its product by means of fifteen colporteurs, just now reduced to ten. Apart from its book depot in the Press building, and the voluntary help of missionaries, these ten men with their packs, now represent the sole machinery of circulation of the Nile Mission Press in Egypt, — less than one man to a million of the population. Palestine, with its total population of 700,000, can keep five colporteurs busy and ask for more. The Bible Society, selling Scriptures only, has, Mr. Upson tells us, twenty men always at work in the Nile Valley south of Cairo, where now six colporteurs are all who sell all the rest of Christian literature. And yet some other countries look to Egypt as a field where colportage work is well devel¬ oped. If these ten colporteurs represent Egypt’s contribution to literature circulation, and if Egypt is ahead of some other countries, no wonder there is a glut on the store-shelves. To any member of a home publishing firm, the situation would seem ludicrous. To those with a longing for the voice of Christ to be heard, it is deplorable, and calls for an imme¬ diate righting of the proportions of our work. “The work of colportage is so important, the circulation of the Gospel message, not wholesale but in detail, not in gross but individually — that it was and is worth any pains to put that work on the best possible footing.” {Egyptian Report.) CO-OPERATION IN COLPORTAGE Only two fields, Turkey and Egypt, tell of a co-operative scheme for colportage : “For distribution we are co-operating with the Levant Agency of the American Bible Society. This Agency has all the organisation necessary for the distribution of the Scrip- [245] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM tures, and the present agent, the Rev. A. C. Ryan, has kindly consented to handle the distribution of the Christian literature produced by our publication department, in connection with the distribution of the Bible.” {Turkish Report.) “In Egypt we have a joint colportage committee which is a co-operative missionary committee for organising the distribution of Christian books and tracts in all parts of Egypt by means of colporteurs. The colporteurs are proportioned among the different organisations and supported by grants in aid from the societies concerned in the scheme, but the extent of such support is proving utterly inadequate in view of the opportunities.” {Egyptian Report.) Such schemes will no doubt be developed in the near future by the literature committees springing into existence in con¬ nection with the inter-mission councils in different countries. They should have the effect of equalising distribution over a given area. Thus, at present, in the Syria and Palestine area, Nile Mission Press colporteurs work in Palestine, and Amer¬ ican Board colporteurs in Northern Syria, while the Beirut Press has hardly yet been able to initiate colportage in the important central belt including Beirut, The Lebanon and Damascus. Co-operative schemes should also make it possible to mobilise the whole colportage staff in one centre for special work during some national or religious feast, or for a week of training and devotion. They should also make possible a common provident fund for their employees. They can only do well on a basis of mutual trust and determination that the literature of all the sharing bodies shall circulate on equal terms in all the field. But co-operative schemes need staffing. In Egypt, the Nile Mission Press generously gives about a quarter of Mr. Upson’s time to the superintendence of the joint scheme. But he tells us that the work must now claim one man’s whole attention : “As colporteur inspector, I am supposed myself to travel about and visit the men; and in fact I have probably slept in the houses of colporteurs and native evangelists as much [246] CIRCULATION as any ons; but can I be editor and colporteur at the same time? What is needed is the provision of the salary and the expensive travelling of a colporteur inspector, who should be out with the men about nine months of the year, and even the remaining time he would keep in touch with them by correspondence and direct all their movements.” 111. Advertising ENLISTING THE CO-OPERATION OF MISSIONARIES It is plain enough that missionaries are the principal pur¬ chasers and distributors of the literature produced. It is quite equally clear that the publishing bodies have not, as a rule, given guidance and suggestion to such helpers. The initiative in circulation has come from the individual mis¬ sionary, and the work has remained chiefly individual. Neither have the publication bodies done much in the way of adver¬ tisement within the missionary body and still less outside. Probably no other literature has attained so large a circulation with so little advertising. The devotion of the few who are pushing the circulation of the literature has perhaps shut the eyes of the missionary publishers to the fact that they are so few. In two directions there seems abundant need of work on the part of the committees responsible for literature production : 1. Fuller guidance and more strategic planning for the work of those who already help in circulation. 2. A planned policy of education, which shall bring the use and importance of literature before every missionary, and seek to enlist the help of all instead of that of the few. Hos¬ pitals, for instance, were mentioned above which are doing notable things in literature distribution. But other hospitals might have been mentioned which are doing nothing. The doctors are busy, and the question has never been brought before them in a practical way. This lack of direction is manifest all along the line. In India one writer states : ‘All make their own arrange- [2473 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM merits, and there is no concerted action. There is evident lack of direction, and much more could be accomplished if special steps were taken to stimulate co-operation and activity. The average worker carries a stock of books that he trusts will somehow be suitable to all whom he may chance to meet.” Others say that the situation is not quite so hopeless. Turkey says : “So far, co-operation has been unorganised and undi¬ rected. In this respect radical changes must be made as soon as the country is opened up again.” A publication committee that values the co-operation of missionaries will have, henceforth, to plan for careful educa¬ tion of the missionary forces, along some of the following lines : (a) Visits to missionaries’ language schools, with ad¬ dresses on the literature available for different sections of the community and hints as to its use. (b) Exhibits of available literature at all types of mis¬ sionary conferences, — the sight of a book does more to com¬ mend it than any catalog description. Permission can generally be given to a representative of a literature committee for a five minutes speech introducing the latest book. (c) Stronger postal advertising. Very little has been done beyond publishing a general descriptive catalog of the products of any one publishing society. But not every busy person looks intelligently at a catalog. We need something between a bulletin and a personal letter, introducing the new books, with full explanation as to the people we hope to reach through them, and perhaps a paragraph or two from the author, saying what were his hopes in writing the work. And from time to time we should produce resumes of all the literature now available for some special purpose, e.g., all tracts suitable for out-patient distribution, with description of their use in some particular dispensary; or, at the right time of year, all books suitable for school prizes, with particu¬ lars of their cost when put into a prize binding; or again all books and pamphlets dealing with certain definite Moslem difficulties or with modern scientific difficulties about the faith. [248] CIRCULATION If the proposed Press Bureau is established, it should be able to place such articles in all the missionary periodicals read in the language area concerned. We must not fear to set aside a sufficient sum for postal advertisement within such a dependable constituency as the missionary body. GENERAL ADVERTISING General advertising outside the missionary circle has also been very slight. The American Press in Beirut sends out its bilingual catalog to all interested parties and sometimes samples of publications. The Nile Mission Press also circu¬ lates a catalog to a list of friends ; for the rest it may be said that co-operation, whether foreign or native, in circulation of the product of the Nile Mission Press is directed and stimu¬ lated by personal efforts on the part of Dr. Zwemer and the missionaries of the Nile Mission Press and World’s Sunday School Association, with an occasional advertising circular. Mr. Upson refers to newspaper publicity: “Dr. Zwemer was the pioneer in this field and he — or any of us — could insert a ten line advertisement in a Cairo daily paper for about £i per day or £300 per year. In one case such an insertion brought sixty-seven replies. Another method and an even better one is to insert articles — chatty verbose articles — which people are much more in¬ clined to read than advertisements. In certain cases and to a limited extent such articles could be inserted in some papers. Canon Gairdner invited me to do this in Orient and Occident; only pressure of work has prevented the continuance of the articles.” There is the rub. The task of promoting circulation and of advertising, work which is a fine art, has been left to the spare time of overburdened workers. The opportunities of the post must not be forgotten. “The Cairo Moslem press has regular agents for the Moslem groups of South America. It seems important to have some central Christian agency in South America to use the post for the [249] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM distribution of literature as was so efficiently done in China for many years by the Rev. F. E. Rhodes.’’ {Report on isolated groups of Moslems.) “By means of the post all the Kabyle and Arab school¬ masters of the country could be reached.” {North African Report. ) Other bodies with a cause to forward are recognising the value of postal advertising. The ordinary Indian stamped postcard used to sell at one pice, but we learn that the Ahmadiyas sold them at three for a pice, the space for writ¬ ing reduced by one-half because they had printed on the other half statements in Mussulmani-Bengali about their tenets and work. The cost to them was two-thirds of the price of each postcard, plus the price of the printing. But they thought it worth while as mission policy. IV. The Personnel of Circulation NEEDED, CIRCULATION MANAGERS To say that the crux of the problem is the selection, ap¬ pointment and support of a circulation manager or publicity agent is to state nothing new ; it has all been stated before and agreed to time and again. Surely at last we shall take steps that the skilled task of the circulation manager has the devo¬ tion and attention of a special worker. When we do so we must see to it that he is in closest touch with the productive agency, and if possible is himself a member of the publication committee for his field. It is important to such a committee in considering new manuscripts to have with them one with his finger on the pulse of circulation, — though the hope of a large circulation will not be the only factor that decides them in publishing a book. To the circulation manager it is important to know be¬ forehand the plans of the producers. This foreknowledge has been very rare and we sometimes hear wails about shelves full of superseded books. If the new book really carries our [250] CIRCULATION message better to the present generation, it is right for the old to give place. But when both are valuable for present needs, it is important to sell out the duller looking first edition of the old before the new book appears on the scenes, and then let both books sell together in an attractive up-to-date dress. Any intelligent handling of the circulation problem involves, too, what has not always taken place under former systems, a method of stock-taking which places before every member of a publication committee, at least once a year, the number of copies in stock of every publication. Without such infor¬ mation it is impossible to obtain intelligent co-operation in circulation. LOCAL CIRCULATION SECRETARIES In Egypt one society, the C.M.S., appointed its own secre¬ tary for book circulation. “He receives an early copy of every new publication and keeps his men informed on the subject, stirring them up from time to time and getting orders. This should be developed.” (A. T. Upson.) A corps of such responsible circulation agents in different localities might make all the difference to the task of a central publicity agent or circulation manager. But in order to get the most from such work, each station concerned needs to have a certain spending power over funds earmarked for literature. Much of what has been done in the past has come from the missionary’s own pocket. Mr. Upson’s memorandum suggests that the use of literature funds allotted to any sta¬ tion should be safeguarded by annual returns to the mission, or to the central literature committee, on some such lines as the following, which he quotes as adopted by the Madura Mis¬ sion of the American Board: “Every missionary is required to fill up a return contain¬ ing the following particulars : “Number of Bibles sold or given. “Number of Testaments and portions sold or given. “Number of tracts given or sold. “Number of other books sold. “Amounts received for Bibles and portions. [251] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM ‘Amounts received for other books.’’ This form has been filled up regularly with great advan¬ tage to the mission. Many a young missionary would not have felt the importance of Christian literature, but the return required him to give it attention. A similar policy has been adopted by the Arabian Mission. TRAINING AND STATUS OF COLPORTEURS The colporteur, as he enters a Moslem village, is, perhaps, the one witness for Christ known and read of all men, right down among the people, one of themselves. Of what serious importance, then, is the training and attitude of such a man. Egypt, quoted as the exemplar for the rest of us, confesses to abundant cause for discontent with her best efforts so far. “The high cost of living of colporteurs and the low esti¬ mate put upon this profession make it extremely difficult to secure good men for the task.” (Egyptian Report.) We cannot but blame ourselves. The low estimate which we ourselves have put upon the task of circulating literature has made us unwilling to expend sufficient money to train men well, and to pay a trained man’s salary. “The adequate, broad, unsectarian training of colporteurs is a crying need. The ideal colporteur or salesman should at least know the contents and literary value of the wares he sells. This is far from being the case at present.” (Egyptian Report. ) Mr. Upson says: “We need better educated colporteurs. Those in Palestine under my colleague, the Rev. Archibald Forder, are evangelists to begin with, and they draw the com¬ paratively large salary of L.E. 9 to lo per month. Of course it is well worth it.” In Kuweit on the Persian Gulf, the colporteurs preached in turn at the Sunday evangelistic services. It was found, when this custom was begun, that it increased their prestige in the town when they went about, on other days selling books. But such service demands an evangelist’s training. [252] CIRCULATION Mr. Van Peursem, writing in The Moslem World for July, 1921, emphasised the personal side of colportage in Arabia. “Salesmanship,” he said, “is but a small part of the colpor¬ teur’s job. The object is not to make a sale or to get rid of a book, but to place it. After a sale, the impression should be left in the purchaser that he got something good; not that he accepted a book simply to please the colporteur.” Has the time not come for us to set one standard, and train our colporteurs as full evangelists ? We have sometimes set Moslem converts, new to the Faith, uneducated and of low birth, to this lonely and difficult task in a hostile environ¬ ment. Yet it is by the life of the colporteur that village multi¬ tudes who never meet the western missionary will judge of Christ. And his is work, too, which might call out all the powers of a trained evangelist, and give play to special gifts : “If only we could get a supply of colporteurs who would follow the example of the Meddahin or Rcmnyyin and sit down and tell a story! This demands initiative and consecration, and we have not got to that point yet.” {North African Report.) What if these colporteurs, as they travelled, were the jongleurs of the Lord? What if they knew how to sing the Gospel story, as the true people’s evangelists? “I see a vision — or is it only a dream? — a vision of the day when we shall have colporteurs for the boys, each of them a man with the boy-objective before him, the boy hearts for his realm to conquer; a man who would study boy-nature and lay himself out for it, that he “might by all means save some.” He would get a knot of them round him outside the village and give them bicycle rides or set them to run races for sweets, till he had got into comradeship, and then tell them stories or show them pictures, and note who could read the best, and who was captain of the gang, and leave with them a carefully chosen few papers to read when he is gone.” (/. L. Trotter, Algiers.) Somehow we have differentiated between colporteurs and the other evangelists in our employ. Yet a colporteur who knows his business and loves his work is a pilgrim-evangelist [253] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM all the time. We have neither given to our colporteurs the spiritual training that we give to other evangelists, nor have we given them the stimulus of the trader whose wealth de¬ pends upon his activity. In some parts of India, and in Turkey, the colporteur’s commission on books sold counts as part of his salary. In Egypt, we have not provided this stimulus to activity; our colporteurs work for a small fixed salary, barely a living wage. And we have somehow allowed a sense to creep in, that they are only pedlars, and with a different standing from the rest of our evangelistic workers. This pernicious habit of mind, is now firmly fixed in the Christian Church in Egypt, so that strong measures are needed to break it down. If we ourselves were convinced of the real usefulness of the colporteur-evangelist, we should no more grudge the spend¬ ing of evangelistic funds on his training than on the training of other evangelists. But because we think of him only as a bookseller, we expect his training to be paid for out of book¬ selling funds. If again, we were convinced of the supreme importance of literature as an evangelistic agency, we should not be content unless our whole evangelistic staff was active and intelligent in the circulation of literature. This has been adopted as the deliberate aim of the missions of India. Can we not break down the barrier by training colpor¬ teurs and other evangelists together? The evangelist, who as part of his own training, has been out in the city with his teacher, selling Christian literature, must have more fellow-feeling ever after for his brother whose task is colportage. “Even those evangelists who carry their studies further should do a ‘stage’ of colportage.” {North African Report.) In Constantinople, an Armenian student has been earning part of the college fees he cannot otherwise afford to pay, by colportage during his vacation. There is possibly room for development along these lines, both as a lesson to our people that such work is not “beneath” a student, and as a training in self-help for students who are receiving assistance with their college fees. With a responsible shepherd-of-colporteurs to [254] CIRCULATION guide such work, it might be valuable training in evangelism for a young student band. We must not allow ourselves to forget that the colporteur, with his wider range of contacts, needs just as careful train¬ ing in meeting Moslem difficulties, and in his own devotional life, as his brother whose activities are bounded by one station. This daily witness of the colporteur, among people who may meet no other missionary of Christ, is so important that we must wipe off the shame of having sent out almost un¬ trained men, giving them for shepherding one-quarter of the time of a man on whom countless other burdens were laid. As in every other department of mission work, so in the circulation of literature, our object must be to make ourselves unnecessary. It is of first importance that the indigenous Church regard the work of circulation as her business and the colporteur as her representative, while all her ministers are themselves evangelist-colporteurs. The reports are distinctly discouraging on this question. They speak of isolated workers who use literature and circulate it keenly, but not, so far, of corporate action in the indigenous Churches. Yet perhaps we have never set ourselves to win them to serious corporate action. Mr. Upson says of Egypt : “While I was visiting colporteurs I have sometimes been able to give special ad¬ dresses in the Evangelical and Coptic churches upon the value of literature as an evangelistic agency. Unfortunately, these events have been far too meagre, the difficulty being lack of time.” Judging from the reports, his account would fairly represent most of what has been done in other countries to win co-operation of the churches. In this connection the Egyptian report says further : “The point at which special effort is needed now, is the development of a local, congrega¬ tional sense of responsibility for the use of literature. We would like the colporteur to be regarded, eventually, as the “own missionary” of an Egyptian Church in every particular district. Beginnings might be made in this way by appointing a superintendent of colporteurs, who not only visited the men and travelled with them in their districts, but visited the con¬ gregations and reported to them on the colporteur’s work, [255] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM promoting holy rivalry between them as to their voluntary efforts of circulation, and the sales of their respective colporteurs. We pray God that these workers, at their most lonely task, will at last be granted the training, sympathy and prayer which the Church should give to her pioneers. Chapter XIV NEWSPAPER EVANGELISM Does not the time seem fipe for the establishment of some agency that shall, on the one hand, present this opportunity adequately to the American churches, and shall, on the other, through suitable agencies in the various countries to be reached, undertake to utilise the entire secular press in non-Christian lands the world over for the proclamation of that message which we are commanded to make known to all men? — Dr. Albertus Pieters of Japan. After the Koran, sometimes indeed before the Koran, the newspaper is the chief reading of the Moslem world. The Moslem lands of the East are the birthplace and the tomb of many, newspapers. In 1913, the Hamburg Kolonial Institut purchased a collection of newspapers in Arabic only, which contained 130 papers published in Egypt and the Sudan, 8 in Palestine, 141 in Syria, 32 in Turkey, 42 in Mesopotamia, 38 in North Africa, 13 in France, 4 in England, 20 in the United States, 3 in Canada, 16 in South America, 2 in Singa¬ pore, 2 in Zanzibar, and one each in Sardinia, in Malta and in Petrograd. Most of these were dailies. If journals that appeared less frequently are included, the total number of Arabic papers in the collection reaches 694. In the same year. Professor E. G. Browne told the Persia Society ^ that his collection of newspapers in Persian reached between 350 and 360 titles. It must not be supposed that all the papers in either the Arabic or the Persian collection were in existence at one time; many of them were ephemeral rags, some only produced by a gelatine process for a tiny clientele. ^The Persian Press and Persian Journalism, Prof. E. G. Browne. [257] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM But into them were poured the aspirations of the Orient for better life. Mr. H. Rabino, in an article on the Persian press written in the same year,^ gave the following titles which sufficiently indicate what ideas were seething in the brain of young Persia: Brotherhood, Independence, Union, Humanity, Culture, Civilization, Dawn, Fraternity, Reform, Revivi¬ fication. That was in the year before the war. And what of to* *day ? The process still goes on. The East reads its newspapers. Perhaps not the same newspapers as yesterday; almost cer¬ tainly not the same newspapers as in 1913, for the war up¬ heavals have strewn the Orient still more thickly with tombs of defunct journals. Some lived only by blackmail and died unregretted. Some fell with the fall of the party they repre¬ sented. Some were suppressed by governments. . But still the East reads the paper, — under whatever changing name. The chief of the Kashgais, lord of 30,000 black tents on the Persian hills, subscribes to the London Times and has Reuter’s telegrams translated to him by his son’s tutor. Mr. Reuben Levy says of Persia to-day: ‘‘A large number of newspapers see the light, often for only a few issues, after which they die, hut more appear.” The Persian magazine Kaveh ^ for April, 1921, gave a list of 46 current newspapers, all published since 1918. They represent all parts of Persia, but especially the North, where the press has always been more active than in the South. They come also from beyond the Persian borders, as from Baku, Herat, Kabul and Jellalabad. The Arabic newspaper press, too, has never lost its pre¬ war activity. Its journals show a very varied range of serious¬ ness and responsibility, but the veriest rag takes on an importance of its own, when we remember that it is the sole reading of much of its clientele. Certain classes are all but hypnotised by the writers of the leading articles in their news¬ papers. The city of Cairo alone publishes seventy-seven newspapers, and “Cairo newspapers,” says the Arabian re- ^ Revue du Monde Musulman, March, 1913. * Itself an exemplar of an important effort at literary and scientific pub¬ lication made by Persians in Berlin, where the new magazine Iranschahr is also published monthly. [258] SCHOOL OF THE SALATIGA FAITH MISSION, BLORA, JAVA women’s BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL, BUITENZORG, JAVA •/ -s '^ ■■wkr ’ajr^v' - v:' i :V ^ • • "* » • ‘ I ♦ * ’’* . *" ■‘’ -> ' fc.' -*•- .*-* W _ .“* r , ■ >w f'-'M • • >* •'. I-' -V * ' 4 " ;., % . 'Vv •■' . : ■ • .,• ‘,7? V '. . ^ V«. t* , • \- I* 1. *;T:.-'fc :^J ■t» zhT '‘i V . ♦ ' \ 3.; ' -■ '"' ■ - * - K ‘ * " ^ ■x' .' *■■ * ' . ' * ** • » i w* J . .; '•--..V Aji; .- ' ■ ■ '«'■'*■; ., .* ' ■' '••;>/- r-. r , — V4 ’ •* > • • V. V >k / , * ' • „>f 1, ■ ■ /’•'“ • ' J-.*v ■ >. ■r V- •f4^* ■ 44 ' A. 7!<, ‘ =^.4-:''j NEWSPAPER EVANGELISM port, “are widely read in the Persian Gulf and play no small part in the formation of public opinion there.” Indeed ‘‘news¬ papers from Cairo are read from America to the Philippine Islands. Some of the leading Moslem magazines have regular agents in South America, South Africa and India.” {Egyp¬ tian Report.) In varying degrees, but without a single exception, all the countries falling under the present Survey look for informa¬ tion, and even for ideals to the newspaper press. The Rev. A. Pieters, who was one of the first to see the significance for the Christian messenger under similar conditions in Japan, wrote as follows : ^ “The Apostle Paul at Athens disputed in the market daily, because the market place was where the Athenians congre¬ gated to do their buying and selling, and to discuss questions of public interest. This is not done in the market place now¬ adays, either in America, or in Japan, but in the newspapers. Not to speak of public discussion, which goes without saying, the very buying and selling are done in the papers, for the most difficult and essential part of the salesman’s work, that of in¬ ducing the customer to desire his wares, is done in the newspapers.” Each year makes this statement more applicable to Moslem lands. “While the pulpit and platform reach their hundreds and thousands, the newspaper simultaneously, rapidly and throughout a much wider area, touches hundreds of thou¬ sands.” {Egyptian Report.) An important memorandum from Dr. C. S. G. Mylrea of Arabia reached the General Field Committee of this Survey, at the outset of its work, urging it to canvass the possibilities of the newspaper press, for spreading Christian truth and ex¬ plaining the Christian standard and attitude in regard to moral and social questions. “We have only begun,” the memorandum said, “to appre¬ ciate the possibilities of advertising, which after all is what we are trying to do. The great war has taught us what can be done in the way of moulding public opinion, or rather of ^In his book Seven Years of Newspaper Evangelism in Japan. [259], CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM manufacturing public opinion. With a just cause and a true message such as we have, a skilfully conducted propaganda campaign ought to produce great results. The advantage of the scheme would be as follows : 1. A large circulation is immediately secured among all sorts and conditions of men. 2. The message circulated carries with it no foreign mis¬ sionary suggestion to rouse prejudice before the reader begins. It obtains an unprejudiced attention. 3. The only heavy expense is the charge made by the newspaper for publication. The newspaper prints the article, the newspaper distributes the article, and the newspaper car¬ ries the thousand and one overhead charges incidental to all publication.” In consequence of this memorandum, the General Field Committee asked for an expression of opinion from different parts of the Moslem world. It appeared that almost nothing of this description had been tried, but there was a general desire for experiment: China. There is a certain opening for newspaper evangelism in China, and this has been taken advantage of, at least to some extent, by Dr. MacGillivray of the Christian Literature Society for China, who has succeeded in getting a considerable number of articles accepted for publication by the Chinese newspapers, but it must be remembered that these newspapers cater for the Chinese public generally, and not for a Moslem clientde. We do not think it would be at all possible to gain admission for articles of a propagandist nature in distinctly Moslem newspapers, of which a few are in circulation. India. “It is not an entirely new thing for India. The field is open for larger experiment. Here is a great oppor¬ tunity which, if seized, might prove even more successful than in China or Japan.” Turkey. “Newspaper evangelism has not been tried in this field. It is the intention of the Committee to try it out. In our judgment it would be possible, even now, to publish through the Moslem press, articles of high moral tone, advo- [260] NEWSPAPER EVANGELISM eating social and other reform along moral lines. We believe this method of evangelisation is worth trying, even if payment has to be made for the insertion of the articles.’^ Malaysia. “The great opportunity for this kind of work is in Java, where newspapers in the Malay language are numerous, and have a very considerable circulation. On the Malay Peninsula and in Sumatra, there are Malay newspapers published at various important centres. Many of the Malay newspapers are managed and edited by Malay-speaking Chi¬ nese, who are not Moslems. We are not aware that any attempt has yet been made to supply these Malay papers with material having a Christian tendency.” Syria. “Syrian correspondents think that newspapers would not print distinctly Christian material. Foreign corre¬ spondents are divided as to the practicability of this plan. As a matter of fact it has not been tried, and till it has been tried no one can tell. Probably, wisely prepared material would be printed if paid for at advertising rates. When we realise the place The Christian Science Monitor has made for itself, one wonders whether a really high class, distinctly Christian paper might not also make a place for itself. Material, e.g., facts and figures which could be put into newspapers, even at paid advertising rates (as in Japan), should be made generally available from some central source.” Mesopotamia. The British editor of a bi-lingual paper, almost a governmental organ, in Basra, was reluctant to undertake such an effort at the present juncture. The Oriental Christian editor of the leading Arabic daily in Baghdad may be a possibility. North Africa, (i) “With regard to newspaper evan¬ gelism, nothing has ever been tried in connection with the native Arabic press, this being decidedly Moslem and opposed. Anything tried in this way would have to be indirect. It would be possible, however, to use the French press, which is read by a good number of Mohammedans. This has been tried in European evangelistic work in Algiers, and it was found that Moslems as well as Europeans were reached and asked for literature.” [261] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM (2) “Would it not be possible to try a combination of visual and written literature, after the manner of the owners of the cinemas and the proprietors of the newspapers? What is shown in the cinemas (in Algeria) is published in pamphlet form. Can we not do something of the same kind? If we could have pictures thrown on the screen, and popular literature corresponding to the pictures, we could do an immense amount of what the French call vulgarisation, making known the facts and the truths of the Gospel, and exercising an in¬ fluence by means of healthy, uplifting literature and pictures. In all our cities of North Africa there is a taste for pictures, due to the cinema. A new world is thrown open to the veriest street- Arab.” Egypt. “The possibilities of this method were proved before the war, and were to a degree encouraging. More re¬ cently a further experiment was made at the time of Dr. Sher¬ wood Eddy’s visit. The Arabic press was quite willing to insert his Christian messages as news. In such a tourist centre as Egypt, where Christian visitors from Great Britain and America often have a special message, this method of evangelism should be employed to the utmost.” Besides this general desire for experiment in the use of the existing daily press, the survey shows a considerable sense of weakness in regard to Christian periodical literature. Magazine literature in the Moslem world is used as a valu¬ able tool by those who wish to attack Christianity. Al Manar in Egypt has already been mentioned, as have also The Com- rade of Delhi, The Islamic Review of London, The Mussul¬ man of Calcutta, The Review of Religions of Qadian, Al Islam and Muhammadi of Bengal. All of these represent a quite definitely anti-Christian policy, a deliberate attack. The sup¬ port of faithful Moslems is solicited for The Islamic Review and The Review of Religions and both have a considerable gratis circulation and are sent to public libraries in various countries, as well as to individuals. There is nothing sur¬ prising in this. Every modern movement educates its own followers and outside opinion by means of periodical literature. [262] NEWSPAPER EVANGELISM The only question is how far the Christian forces have mas¬ tered this obvious method of preaching the gospel. The reports of the Survey of Christian Literature recently made for all India show a marked weakness here. Some lan¬ guage areas are in great need of a Christian periodical litera¬ ture. Others, where work has been carried on for some time, have too much of it, not in number of copies but in number of titles. The tendency has been for each strong mission to produce a paper for its adherents. There may be in one area three Christian Church papers along almost the same lines, but with a denominational tinge. More united counsels from the first might, with the same expenditure of energy, have resulted in one Christian Church paper with sections for the news of different Church communities, one children’s magazine, and one magazine of apologetics for non-Christians. India is slowly righting this state of affairs and setting free energy which may produce a Christian periodical litera¬ ture more specialised to the constituencies to be reached. A Boys’ Own Paper is being produced in Bengali and magazines for women are making their appearance. With all her Chris¬ tian periodicals, India has yet not one of Christian apologetics for educated Moslems corresponding to the Moslem apolo¬ getic papers mentioned above. The Rev. J. Takle writes, “It has been widely felt that the time is opportune for a paper after the style of The Epiphany — but specially for Moslems. Other needs in regard to periodicals for Moslems in India have already been mentioned, as for example, a simple Pushtu newspaper for the Peshawar district; an Urdu magazine for women on the lines of the former paper called The Garden of the Heart; special attention to Moslem problems and diffi¬ culties in Nur Afshan; an Urdu-English edition of Orient and Occident of Cairo; and an Urdu and a Tamil edition of the children’s magazine The Treasure Chest. A children’s magazine is also desired in Osmanli Turkish, while Persia says: “Though newspaper evangelism as used in Japan is not practicable, we need a newspaper of Christian ideals and character, while non-controversial.” Arabic lands have similar needs to confess : [263] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM “The Christian forces of the Near East should have a monthly magazine of an apologetic character, similar to Al Manar, with departments of homiletics, apologetics and historical Christianity. Especially we need a magazine that will answer the honest inquirer, such as The Epiphany, pub¬ lished weekly by the Oxford Mission to Calcutta, to meet the present day spirit of inquiry in the Near East. In order to put in force such work and ensure its economic adminis¬ tration, we need a central agency at Cairo to serve all Moslem fields.’^ “A dream of the future would be a boys* magazine with pictures, hero tales, scout-law, temperance, purity, physical culture and scores of other topics; through everything running the inspiring fire of those whose hearts have been won by the personal Christ. Could not different lands and missions com¬ bine in one for Islam?” “The need for a Christian magazine for girls has for years been keenly felt, to carry on into home life some of the influences brought to bear on the life of a Moslem girl in a mission school. As early as 1915, plans were almost com¬ pleted for such a magazine and the Cairo Y.W.C.A. col¬ lected a small fund towards its initial expenses. The sum of L.E. 300 per year would have to be guaranteed, however, if such a paper were to hold its own amongst non-Christian rivals. It is most desirable that some plan may at length be found for meeting this great need.’* Such pleas as those just quoted are constantly made. They have been brought forward at all manner of committees and conferences. Hitherto they have always been shelved from a sense of impotence. No society is strong enough to bear these burdens alone. The cost in time and energy, of circulation alone would be prohibitive. Such being the needs, the suggestions for meeting them crystallise in the proposal for a central Christian Press Bureau for the Moslem world, possibly at Cairo; or for several such bureaus should they be needed in different centres. Such a Press Bureau would have two distinct relationships : [264] NEWSPAPER EVANGELISM (i) with the Christian periodical press; (2) with the secular periodical press, and especially the daily newspaper press. 1. With regard to the Christian periodical press, such a bureau might be the office of a Christian newspaper trust. Magazines for diiferent classes of the community might be jointly produced from it. Existing magazines might be greatly strengthened, and the work of local editors lightened, by the preparation of material that could be used in transla¬ tion in various Moslem countries, in magazines for men, women, boys, children. Illustrations could also be obtained or produced by a central bureau at a greatly lightened cost to each individual editor. Editors of talent cannot be numerous in the small mis¬ sionary body: if, then, one society can produce the worker gifted enough to edit a serious apologetic magazine or a “thrilling” paper for boys, why should not the whole language area share the gifts and help in the work of circulation? The Egyptian report says : ” Co-operation on a larger scale would make possible a Christian newspaper trust. This would facilitate the dis¬ tribution of the existing Christian periodicals and increase their circulation, as well as prevent overlapping or needless duplication in contents, programme and clientele.” Under such a scheme the resources for circulation could be pooled, one agent collecting subscriptions in a given area for half a dozen papers. Resources of advertising, too, could be pooled, and two or three people. Eastern and Western specialists in their work including in their numbers an artist, could edit, under a joint board, material needed by the whole Arabic world. It is not too much to say that the Christian magazine literature of the Near East is now produced ex¬ travagantly, for though an almost excruciating economy may be practised in each individual case, the total amount of office work and administration carried on separately in several centres by otherwise much-engaged people is costly in relation to the number of pages circulated. 2. With regard to the secular or the Moslem press, and especially the newspaper press, a press bureau might pool Chris- [265] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM tian journalistic talent, and provide matter and watch oppor¬ tunities for newspaper evangelism. It is suggested that the “clip-sheet” method could be used to advantage, as is done in connection with the temperance movement in Amer¬ ica and elsewhere. This involves the writing of striking, short paragraphs that newspapers are glad to have as news, or even as editorials. A selection of such paragraphs is printed and copies are sent regularly to editors. Certain types of obvious Christian argument to meet Mos¬ lem attacks can only be printed in the Moslem press, if at all, as paid advertising matter. But many forms of vital Christian teaching may find their way into news columns. A Central Press Bureau (linked with the Far and Near Press Bureau, London, for purposes of international moral propaganda, such as that against the drug habit) might serve all Moslem lands with articles for local publication, by writers who understand Moslem thought and difficulties. In every year, for instance, occur centenaries (or bi-tri-etc.-centenaries) of great lives that exemplify something of Christ’s power and teaching. Each year, too, the Times Literary Supplement makes great play with leading articles at the time of the centenary of the publication of famous books. By taking thought, a Christian press bureau might have articles ready for consumption in any part of the Moslem world, drawing vital lessons from such lives and books. Articles of permanent value could afterwards be adapted for book form. In Japan, in connection with the New Life Hall, Hiroshima, such Christian journalism has been brought into closest touch with the personal work of the evangelist for educated men and women. Articles in the daily press give a post office box number for enquiry and a regular work goes on, enquirers writing about personal difficulties and follow¬ ing recommended courses of study, and reading “Every article inserted in the newspaper ends with an invitation to those who are anxious to study more to apply for a grant of free literature. This produces enquirers. Applicants are care¬ fully registered and are invited to join the New Life Society, which entitles them, among other privileges, to the use of the [266] NEWSPAPER EVANGELISM library and to a monthly Christian paper for six months. A correspondence course is carried on for enquirers out of reach of suitable personal workers. A missionary in the northern part of the main island reports that as a result of weekly advertisements, applications have been received from half the townships of his province. In Hiroshima, where, out of 433 townships only fifteen are being reached by Christian work, applications have come in from over 150 more. The enquirers have been of every kind and description, from naval staff officers and men of the con¬ sular service to prisoners, labourers and illiterates. An encouraging feature has been the number of day school teachers who have applied.” {Rev. G. Murray Walton.) Such work is of course carried on in closest co-operation with the other evangelistic forces in the country, and thus gives strength and impetus to all the mission work. For the beginning of such a Press Bureau as has been outlined above, the necessary personnel would be an editor (supplied with reference books and good clerical help) whose business would be the discovery and in part the inspiration and training of Christian journalists in the Moslem world. He would need funds at his disposal for the payment of at least a part of the writing and artistic work. If the work developed, an art editor, or editors in charge of various Chris¬ tian periodicals might be added. But one central editor with correspondents in the various local literature committees might make very important forward moves. The scheme demands money for an office, some books, two or three salaries, and postage. The Far and Near Press Bureau cost, in the year 1921, £650 and supplied missionary news to numerous papers and magazines, besides making such personal contacts with editors and journalists as secure respectful treatment of mis¬ sionary problems. Was this too much to pay for the intro¬ duction of a note of Christian idealism and service into an often opportunist and materialistic daily press? Would the expenditure of a like sum on the preparation and introduction of Christian material into the far more needy press of the Moslem world be extravagant, especially when account is [267] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM taken of the extent to which a central staff could relieve local workers wrestling severally and independently with the same task in different countries? Can such expenditure be deemed extravagant when regard is had to the immense power of the daily press for placarding any set of ideas before the public gaze? Can the newspaper any longer be ignored by those whose object it is to placard Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, before the eyes of the Mos¬ lem world? [268] Chapter XV THE NEXT STEPS No agency can penetrate Islam so deeply, abide so persistently, witness so daringly, and influence so irresistibly, as the printed page. — Dr. Charles R. Watson, President American University, Cairo. I. The Unity of the Moslem W or Id When the last report of the Survey has been read, what is the culminating effect upon the reader’s mind? He has travelled through a maze of details, glancing now at the new nationalist poetry of Persia; now at the puthi of the Bengali villager; now at the westernised apologetic of the Ahmadiya missionary, now at the rhymed tale that beguiles the Swahili trader’s wayside rest; now at the plays and novels of Con¬ stantinople, frank imitations of the French; now at the “unwritten literature’’ of the Berber or Afghan folk-poetry; and now at the wide-flung output of the Moslem press of Cairo. What at the end is the cumulative effect of all these details? Do they remain contiguous but isolated, held to¬ gether in one book as grains of sand may be held in a cup? Or do there emerge common elements of life and spirit, of attitude and ideal, uniting this multitudinous output of Moslem minds rather as cells are united in a living organism than as grains are united in a dead sandheap ? Most strongly we affirm that the study of a dozen reports, each crammed with local details from separate areas, has only heightened the sense that, in a very real way, the Moslem world, far-scattered physically, is at heart a unity. Wherein then lies the unifying secret? This unity of the [269] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Moslem world is not linguistic, although one of its binding forces is the sacred language of its sacred book. Nor is it chiefly a political unity, although, from the first, Islam had a political as well as a religious programme. Nor yet is it primarily a social unity, although Islam has always had a meaning for social life. Nor is the unity in its essence in¬ tellectual; for, while the Moslem nations have the right to a common intellectual heritage, they are yet played upon by endless variety of thought and education. Fundamentally the unity is not of ritual, though the common rites, ablutions, postures, pilgrimages, make one of its most central and im¬ pressive bonds, and the establishment of the call to prayer was at once a stroke of poetic genius and of unifying policy. Every one of these aspects of unity is of importance, and added together they made a potent binding force. But neither severally nor all together do they reveal the real significance of the unity of Islam. They are rather, various modes of expression of a unity whose secret lies in the spiritual realm. The bottom fact of the unity of Islam is a common spiritual attitude drawn from the spiritual content of the Koran and of the personal character of Mohammed. It is not without reason that twin placards hang in St. Sophia over the spot where once the altar stood, bearing in letters of equal size the names “Allah,” “Mohammed.” The character of Allah, as conceived by Mohammed and revealed in the Koran, the character of his prophet as revealed in daily life, these colour the thought of Islam, its political aspirations, its social life, its spiritual vision and appeal. These are the inward spiritual stuff behind the outward manifestation of its unity. 11. Christian Unity in the Moslem World This unity of the Moslem world, it has been said, demands of Christians a counter unity, founded not on the character of the Moslem’s Allah but of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that Christ in whom, and not in Mohammed, all things are summed up. The phrase “a counter unity” is only [270] THE NEXT STEPS half true, for Christian unity is not built on opposition to Islam or on any other negative, but on the sharing of the mind of Christ. It was, before Islam came into being. It will be, when Islam is no more. Yet in a lesser sense the man who demands a counter unity is right. If the spiritual unity of Islam is manifested in political, social or intellectual life, unity in Christ must also find expression through these things. Must not the political aspirations and hauteur of Islam be countered by renunciation of national jealousies and pride, by a new affirmation of Christian brotherhood? Does not the social aspect of Islam call for a united resolve at last to bring the spirit of Christ to bear on the social order ? And again, do not the intellectual manifestations of the spirit of Islam in its literature of to-day call for a united effort to speak the mind of Christ through literature ? The reports of the Survey on Christian Literature un¬ wittingly manifest the spiritual unity of the men who drew them up. The purpose, the message, in many cases the actual argument or appeal or style of the books they plan to produce is the same. Even when the plans are most varied, the same spirit breathes through them. But the writers of the reports manifest also a keen dis¬ content that there is no agency, no channel through which this unity may find expression and function in a sharing of our common literary task and a bearing of one another’s burdens in that work. They point out that, as things are at present, the essential unity of Christian teaching and conviction in the presence of Islam is hidden, however ardent the spirit of goodwill to the brethren, for no channels are provided for intercommunication, for a general sharing of literary gifts or products between one field and the rest. The Moslem World, Quarterly, now in its fourteenth year, has been almost the only link for promoting mutual knowledge. It has indeed done much to give information and direction to workers among Moslems and has probably been one of the prime causes of the present desire that we shall strengthen one another’s hands and face our task unitedly. That desire [271] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM is one of the outstanding features of the present reports. Each writer, after describing the literary work that he sees before the Church in his own area, appeals urgently for closer co-operation with his comrades in other fields. There is not one field report of the twelve that does not point out the necessity for some central organisation to link the literary workers in that field with others, and to unify the Church’s witness to her Lord through literature in the Moslem world. Some central link they call for, as the only hope of efficiency and economy in carrying out a task that concerns the whole Moslem world. Here is a demand from her work¬ ers in all Moslem fields, to which the Church cannot close her ears. They ask for a central organisation to promote co¬ operation and to see that all have a chance of sharing in the creative power found in any part of the field. This is the primary practical need pointed out by the Survey. We must either meet it or confess that united schemes of literature production are too hard for missionaries of Christ and must be left to the missionaries of Islam. That is unthinkable. III. Central Literature Bureau We recommend, therefore, as an immediate step, the opening of a central office, for many and adequate reasons preferably at Cairo, and the appointment of a small central staff who shall be liaison officers to promote Christian litera¬ ture production and circulation throughout the Moslem world. The tasks to be undertaken in such a central literature office would be : (a) To assist, wherever such assistance was desired, in plans for co-ordination and co-operation between existing producers of literature. The reports all call for a clearing¬ house for the exchange of new publications between literature workers in different parts of the world, and for a consultative bureau where such literature can be catalogued and referred to. [272] THE NEXT STEPS It is believed that this process of co-ordination alone, quite apart from any question as to the production of additional literature, would contribute so greatly to the enrichment of present literary resources as to mark a noteworthy advance for Christian missions to Moslems. (b) To promote production in each field and the sharing by as many as possible of the productive energy found in any one field. The Survey has revealed common needs in all fields pro¬ ducing Christian literature for Moslems. There is still the old need for the whole literature of the Moslem controversy. In some cases, while the arguments do not need revision, the manner of presentation can be made more gracious and affectionate. Every field asks also for Bible commentaries and “Lives,” not primarily controversial, but meeting the objections of Moslem readers with explana¬ tions of those phrases and incidents that present most difficulty to them. There is a new call that literature shall now be illustrated, and yet the cost of satisfactory artistic work is too heavy for single societies. The question of united production in this matter must be taken up seriously, if the demand is to be met. In addition, the following classes of readers call for the preparation of specialised literature: women, children, young men receiving western education, modern Moslem sects, mystics, the barely-literate, the Moslem-animist, the newspaper reader. The task of the central literature workers, then, in respect of production would be to seek out the writers or artists in any field, who could meet the needs of these and other classes ; to promote arrangements whereby such a writer in one land can serve other fields; to foster Christian journalism in Moslem lands; to promote newspaper evangelism; to admin¬ ister a small central fund for the securing of the time of writers and artists whose services are wanted by all fields; to avoid overlapping of translational or other work and to give advice on any manuscript or publication schemes on which their opinion may be desired. [273] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM (c) To promote plans for the better circulation of litera¬ ture produced, whether in one field or between the various fields. The Survey has revealed more weakness in the matter of circulation than of production. In no area does the whole Church or even the whole foreign missionary body know and circulate all the literature available. Schemes for publicity; all kinds of advertising; plans for colportage and for vol¬ untary help in circulation all need most careful development in each field. There is also need for a liaison officer to promote inter-field circulation, both of periodicals and of apologetic literature. Workers among isolated communities of Moslems in foreign parts need to be put into touch with the sources for suitable literature. Thus workers in British Guiana and Trinidad need Urdu literature for the Moslem settlers who were once plantation laborers. Australia has a few Afghans who came into the West as camel drivers, and a few Malays on the North who came as pearl divers. South Africa has her Malays. The Moslems of Madagascar are reinforced by arrivals from Hodeida who need Arabic literature, or by Indian traders from Bombay or Madras who need Gujerati or Tamil. And so mention might be made of very many little communities too small to justify separate publications, yet de¬ manding close touch between workers in distant lands. Just here a liaison officer serving the whole field could give in¬ valuable help to the existing literature societies. IV. The Staff Needed To make such a literature bureau of practical service, it should be staffed with : (1) Literary Secretary: to study the problems of pro¬ duction of literature for all fields and to promote or advise on authorship adaptation, translating and general production. (2) Woman Literary Secretary: to work as above but for women and children. (3) Business Manager: to study problems of distribu¬ tion for all fields, to promote or advise on circulation, the [274] THE NEXT STEPS development of markets and general distribution. He would also handle the funds and general office administration for the central bureau. (4) Travelling Secretary: to visit the various fields and especially the chief centres of production and distribution, to keep them in touch with each other and with the central bureau, and to arouse missionaries to the importance of this method. V. Relationships of Central Bureau Since the central bureau is to serve missionaries and societies whose home base is in the United States and Can¬ ada, in Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other countries, it will need the widest international re¬ lationships to ensure that it is equally the servant of all. We therefore record our thankfulness to God that He has raised up at this very time an international missionary body of wide enough reference to unite the interests of us all, and we recommend that the scheme for the Central Literature Bureau be referred to the International Missionary Council, but with the closest relationship with the national bodies that come at close grips with the actual conditions on the field through their vital connection with the mission boards. LOCAL ORGANIZATION The Survey shows consciousness in each field of the need of some simple organisation linking together the literary workers in each country. Even granted sufficient funds for literature, not every mission can provide a skilled editor and business manager for publications, nor sufficient authorship and artistic power to make the great and varied literature now called for, — carrying the one message in books of such various scope, appeal and style. The small Christian bodies in any field, and even the larger ones, can only accomplish [27S]i CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM such a work by combination, and by the sharing of every gift of literary power. A book or picture is no less the property of one missionary society because it is shared by the rest, and only when all share the output can the task of production be done well and cheaply. Some fields have made more progress than others toward this linking of local forces. In most cases the link will take the form of a literature committee connected with an existing inter-mission council, but each field must work out its own plans for mutual help, and there will of course be variations according to local needs and wishes. VI. Linguistic Watersheds While a central bureau for the whole Moslem world and a local inter-mission committee within each clearly defined mission field were recognised as indispensable necessities if provision was to be made for realising the objectives set forth in this report, it was also felt that certain more important linguistic watersheds would require centres of their own. In the services they would render, these regional centres would stand midway between the Central Bureau for the whole Moslem world and the purely local activities of the separate field committees. They would relieve the Central Bureau of details which it could not hope to carry in respect of linguistic and administrative problems existing in individual fields. They could likewise serve the local committees with an in¬ timacy which the Central Bureau could not command. The proposal involves placing a whole time regional secretary and maintaining a regional office for the promotion of Christian Literature for Moslems at the following places : (1) Constantinople, as centre for work for Turkish, Balkan and Russian Moslems. (2) Cairo, as centre for Arabic lands; this could be a branch of the Central Bureau. (3) Teheran, as centre for Persian and central Asian Moslems. (4) Lucknow, as centre for Indian Moslems. [276] THE NEXT STEPS (5) Singapore, as centre for Moslems of the Malay Peninsula and the island world. (6) Shanghai, as centre for Moslems in the Far East and the Philippines. In addition there would be someone charged with the interests of work for Moslems on the Central Literature Committee recently formed for Africa : ^ Some such machinery, it is believed, would be a reasonable provision for the work that is to be done. VII. The Task Essentially Spiritual But let no one think that given this machinery the task is done. The survey gives a picture of Moslem lands in mental bewilderment, tied and bound by prejudice, spiritually desti¬ tute. Nothing but the supply of the Spirit of Christ can meet their need. Literature perishes for lack of vision. The Moslem world waits for apostolic men and women to write and edit with primitive love and fire. Leadership in such work calls for spiritual qualifications and it will require the highest spiritual quality to preserve the unity of the missionary *At the Cairo meeting of the Committee on Survey the following Budget was suggested : Estimated Annual Cost of Organisation, Central Bureau Expenses. Personnel : salaries, house allowances, etc. Literary Secretary, Woman Literary Secretary, Business Manager, Travelling Secretary . $10,000 Office: Rent and clerical assistance . 5>ooo Travel: . Fund for Production . 10,000 Fund for Circulation . 10,000 Fund for Newspaper Evangelism . . . . 5>ooo Fund for subsidizing and strengthening the regional and local organizations and their activities . 15*000 $70,000 Of the foregoing expenditures, it is estimated that a small proportion might come back in profits from sale of literature which had received conditional grants. [277] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM forces in any forward movement such as is proposed. It is true to-day as ever, that we must have spiritual men for spiritual work. And none 'can set them apart and call them out from amongst other insistent claims but the Spirit of the Lord. On God is our dependence. While we do not have the right to pray Him for apostles of literature, unless we are ready to provide the simple machinery that should set them free to work, yet we need ever to remind ourselves that the organization proposed in this chapter is no end in itself, rather is it a preparing in the desert the way of the Lord, a making smooth the paths, along which He may send His messengers before Him, into every Moslem land whither He Himself would come. APPENDICES Appendix A PERSONNEL OF SURVEY ORGANIZATION Committee on Survey of CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR MOSLEMS (Appointed jointly by the Committee of Reference and Counsel and the Committee on Social and ReliRious Surveys) Rev. Cornelius H. Patton, Chairnmn, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts, U. S. A. Rev. Charles R. Watson, Secretary, Rev. Frank W. Bible, Secretary, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, U. S. A. Rev. a. E. Armstrong, M.A. Rev. Eric M. North, Ph.D. Rev. W. I. Chamberlain, Ph.D. Mrs. F. G. Platt Robert E. Speer, D.D. Rev. Stanley White, D.D. Talcott Williams, LL.D. Rev. Canon S. Gould Rev. D. B. MacDonald John R. Mott, LL.D., D.D. Dr. C. S. G. Mylrea ADVISORY MEMBERS M. Le Pasteur Daniel Couve, Paris Rev. John H. Ritson, D.D., London Col. Sir Robert Williams, Bt., M.P., London GENERAL FIELD COMMITTEE Rev. F. W. MacCallum, D.D., Bible House, Constantinople; Turkey, The Balkans, Russia. Rev. Samuel M. Zwemer, D.D., Egypt, Egyptian Sudan, Abyssinia and the Hedjaz, also isolated areas. Rev. W. a. Freidinger, Murray T. Titus, Syria and Palestine. Representing India. A. W. Banfield, W. G. Shellabear, West Africa. Malaysia and the Philippines. Percy Smith, Rev. John Darroch, Representing North Africa. China. W. J. W. Roome, H. a. Bilkert, Persia, Afghanistan and Turkestan. Arabia and Mesopotamia. J. D. Frame, M.D., Persia, Afghanistan and Turkestaa CO-OPTED MEMBERS Rev. Canon W. H. T. Gairdner, Miss C. E. Padwick, Egypt. Research and Editorial Work. [281] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM FIRST CONFERENCE AT CAIRO December 13-19, 1921 F. W. MacCallum, Chairman, Turkey, the Balkans and Russia. Percy Smith, Secretary, North Africa. Samuel M. Zwemer, Egypt, Sudan, Abyssinia and Hedjaz. W. A. Freidinger, Syria and Palestine. W. H. T. Gairdner, Co-opted Member. J. R. Alexander, Visitor. R. W. Caldwell, Visitor. Miss De Mayer, Visitor. Robert S. McClenahan, Visitor. George Swan, Visitor. A. T. Upson, Visitor. SECOND CONFERENCE AT CAIRO November 7-14, 1922 F. W. MacCallum, Chairman, Turkey and the Balkans. Percy Smith, Secretary, North Africa. W. A. Freidinger, Syria. James E. Hawkes, Persia. C. Stanley G. Mylrea, Arabia. Murray T. Titus, India. Charles R. Watson, Representing Committee in U. Samuel M. Zwemer, Egypti Sudan and other areas Miss C. E. Padwick, Co-opted Member. J. R. Alexander, Consultative Member. Miss C. M. Buchanan, Consultative Member. W. W. Cash, Consultative Member. Mrs. C. S. G. Mylrea, Consultative Member, George Swan, Consultative Member. A. T. Upson, S. Consultative Member. Miss Davida Finney, Research Secretary. FIELD COMMITTEES west AFRICA Report received from Canon Rowling. J. J. Cooksey north AFRICA Percy Smith, Chairman M. Eugene Cuendet W. H. T. Gairdner George Swan R. W. Caldwell W. A. Freidinger J. D. Crawford EGYPT AND THE SUDAN S. M. Zwemer, Chairman A. T. Upson, Miss C. M. Buchanan SYRIA AND PALESTINE Mr. Bayard Dodge Alfred Nielson Pasteur Emile Bres [282] ■ ■' ' r ^''-f' *■'■ ' " . •' ft. ;• -■ ‘ . i* '< i ' ^ w*^' ,’• ; 'h* '^^ ^3 -k: r'-’.-l- - * ..- :'v •* I - t''- Ut:- , :; ' v;- hi ■ ?►">' ■ ».• sL. ». ■ Ptf^i! JW\ ’ tL3" jt '■y '•sV . ■■. '•» ■.■ -s. • • . * ... ' ■• • '’1 ■ ■■<» '■*• . * ‘ ,"4- . • '-ilat »>.t 1 ,"1 , ** ivi .&}■ ,;v n . ^ >• ■; :•■?::*■ ij- ,^ - - . .If ' ' V If " 'fa ** * T'^'* '■'*§* * , !■ 3^ ■• ■ THk ■ ■ fc,.-..- * .-. .■ ,>-.•' V ‘j< »;■ t -•• . . f. .:■ . - ' J». . J^HT. '.•■*. .*^ ' -"iV • •» # *k- * * ■• • •' • •■ • , . - -■ - t [ *■ ' / *''^-*, ‘ ••! ■ -•^^r'r ‘ *' "^ .. ■' '••* >• ■ ■’»—■’■ V ’'‘‘'.jr*''. , •'-ifflftjlK' - . '■.' ‘i •'" ■‘■‘vV' ■ ' ‘ ■ '"f" ■ ii*. ** - '.- ^>jL*-^yrv ‘. ■ vv^-r* THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD Each Dot ( . ) ■= 100,000 Moslems - '*** " • ^ .i . U - ^ i » ■ ,#»' ■. -r:; - jr " ^ ^ v -t' V 'mi. i^?'' /r'^ .. •':*'.-;Vfe -.'^v ^ ■*, .>. ', 't r ■ 't ' .,f. '■, s' ' **,'''^‘*^ :?* ■•■•' S' ‘a* '■*- "^ ..V- lfl> 'tTl T ^ 4-. .»■- .-A< '•' *•• ’ -nv «, - - v* -» •■«" ’•' 'A -r - ■■■ ics:' ' #»'- . .<^ V* ^'': ;r-^' - •. . ■>,. ; .y. ■*L‘ > ' ■ ' ** '■-■ - ' ► ’• / ^ .V'- 1.*“ 1. Wr“ '‘■>.'^■’-**^*^£75 ■ . • * . V- ' ••. i.. ^ ‘ .. r. . a •, ' ' *" •» •■' ' »i>., 'i/' %■ '' ■.«' ' .- ' .■' . ■• ?' ■ - ‘ - r ■ , . \ J •*■■ •" •*; •-' 4 si:y.\ i, - ■ . - .*» ' * -f ' A-'r-Q - ’ - iSi ' ■■«‘j' -* * ■•« ‘ C '• ‘V 7 f » • ^ * - -^r . t m •* i ' I * '%i<| ^ t M ~ *1 T*1. - 4. ' ,A-- • x -ti- ' V ' A ■•■■ ■■.• '‘:^>T Si.. -^‘ '-V> • .--;.r^: • C A* ' a - • >.- ■ .' w<.-7 A *^ ■ -‘ - - - ^ ‘ . ■•'’•■ -"A? -T-i '■■ ••^;,v I-.. y * Ifi - ' -'■*- s. *.V- - i-w:- ^3?-' .-^vnci, . . -■ '.ai' <:■• - ^ V,. ; @ .. ■ ..^ ' ■ 4.^ ; ■■ (Tit.; .. ail|».’.v=^, . - '..X'y^-J:: — ^ « Ar • k '‘M ' • •• ■y, . k* . »' ‘. ‘ V- " '’ « '' ■ r / ‘ in >. s: - ^ ■\„-, . -v -« . ,'4y. _ ^ « VT _.. . ■•■'.>. >. ‘J- -J*!*- ■ ■• ■■ ■..' ■ •:... .. -t 'iS- . . .. -v. * “M '*43 I. . i • -iS^. i «. • *• APPENDIX A TURKEY AND THE BALKANS F. W. MacCallum, Chairman Charles T. Riggs R. F. Goodsell J. W. Wiles, Belgrade, Serbia. Samuel Irwin Novi, Sad., Serbia. J. Riggs Brewster, Salonica, Greece. Gotfreid Pederson, Philipople, Bulgaria. J. H. Brige, Smyrna. correspondents H. H. Riggs, Constantinople. Edgar McNaughton, Y. M. C. A., Berlin. Metropolitan Antonius von Kief, Serbia. Johannes Lepsius, Berlin. E. A. Yarrlow, Tiflis, Ga. ARABIA AND MESOPOTAMIA H. A. Bilkert, Chairman, E. E. Calverley C. J. Pennings John C. Young James Cantine G. D. Van Peursen John Van Ess E. T. Allen H. D. Griswold Ahmed Shah J. B. Mathews PERSIA J. Davidson Frame, Chairman S. M. Jordan INDIA M. T. Titus, Chairman R. SiRAJ-UD-EhN L. Bevan Jones MALAYSIA W. G. Shellabear, Chairman A. J. Blick Paul Pennings CHINA John Darroch, and members of a subcommittee on work among Moslems appointed by the China Continuation Committee. NOTE: Each field Committee was aided by a number of corre¬ spondents whose names are not available for printing, except in the case of the Committee for Turkey and the Balkans. [283] Appendix B A NEW CENSUS OF THE MOSLEM WORLD, S. M. ZWEMER A census of the Mohammedans in the world is desirable because the discrepancies in the different statistical surveys attempted by various authorities and hitherto published are as disconcerting as they are surprising. Most of the estimates, it is true, have been made by Western writers; but they have often repeated figures given by Moslems, or, in some cases, of pro-Islamic orators who exaggerated totals. During the negotiations of the Peace Treaty of Sevres, for example, an Indian Mohammedan wrote an appeal on behalf of the 400,000,000 Moslems in the world. In the Revue du Monde Musulmun, Vol. IV, pp. 770-798, there is a long review of a book ‘‘Siyahat U1 Kubra” — The Great Travels — ^by Suleiman Chukri Bey, printed at St. Petersburg in 1907, in which this Moslem globe-trotter gives the total Moslem population of the world as 360,766,695, of which 10,719,658 are in Europe, 218,789,957 in Asia, 98,952,000 in Africa and 32,305,000 in the islands of the Indian Ocean. El Moayyad, a Cairo newspaper, dated 9th November, 1909, gave the total population of the Moslem world as 270,- 000,000; but of these 40,000,000 were said to live in China, where we know there are fewer than 12,000,000. In another case, one to which the late Rev. H. H. Jessup, D.D., has called attention, the Sublime Porte under the Hamidian Regime carefully copied a survey of the Moslem world pub¬ lished in the Missiomtry Review of the World in 1898, and gave it as an accurate census taken under the supervision of the Sultan and at his expense. His letter on the subject dated Beirut, October 15, 1900, reads: [284] APPENDIX B once translated your statistical summary of tHe number of Moslems in the world, 196,000,000, and showed it to the Mudir al Maarif. He took it and afterwards replied that it could not be published, as the Emperor William in Damascus has spoken publicly of the Moslems as 300,000,000. I told him the Emperor was simply quoting the exaggerated state¬ ment of a Moslem sheikh at the dinner table; but the Mudir kept it and sent it to Constantinople and now it has come out as the official census made by the Sultan’s government and published by the Turk.” In the following table are other more careful estimates from various sources given in the order of totals, beginning with the highest estimate: HUBERT JANSEN, Verbreitung des Islam (1898) . 259,680,672 C. H. BECKER in Baedeker’s Egypt (German Edition) . 250,000,000 H. WICHMAN in Justus Perthes Atlas, 1903 . 240,000,000 THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY, Cairo Con¬ ference, 1906 . 232,996,170 LAWRENCE MARTIN, in “Foreign Affairs,” March, 1923.. 230,000,000 MARTIN HARTMANN, 1910 . 233,985,780 WHITAKER’S ALMANAC, 1919 (English Edition) . 221,825,000 SUMMARY OF THE MOSLEM WORLD, The Moslem World, April, 1914 . 201,296,696 LUCKNOW CONFERENCE REPORT, 1911 estimate . 200,000,000 S. M. ZWEMER, In Missionary Review of the World, 1898. . 196,491,842 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MISSIONS, 1904 . I93,55o,ooo ALLGEMEINE MISSIONS ZEITSCHRIFT, 1902 . 175,290,000 BROCKHAUS KONVERS-LEXIKON, 1894 . 175,000,000 The most detailed statistics can be found in Jansen but they are not reliable and are generally over-estimated, espe¬ cially in regard to Siam, China and the Philippine Islands as well as the former German colonies in Africa and Abyssinia, where he finds no fewer than 800,000 Mohammedans. Gen¬ erally speaking, the population of countries such as Morocco, Persia, Arabia and Northern Equatorial Africa (where there are large desert tracts) has been estimated too high. In preparing our new estimate, there are several large areas concerning which we are able to speak with much greater accuracy than was the case in the survey made before the World War of 1914. The China Continuation Committee Survey has given us careful statistics regarding China, and [285] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM census reports of more recent dates are now available for India, Malaysia, Egypt and several other countries. The total number of Mohammedans in the world, according to this new estimate, is 234,814,989. Of these, 105,723,000 are under British rule or protection; while under other Western governments in possession of colonies there are 94,482,077, as indicated below : DISTRIBUTION BY GOVERNMENTS Under British Rule or Occupation In Africa . 28,910,000 In Asia . 76,788,000 In Australia . 25,000 105,723,000 Under Other Western Governments In Africa: Belgium . 1,764,000 France . 28,502,332 Italy . 1,659,000 Portugal . 239,000 Spain . S94»5oo Abyssinia and Liberia . 800,000 In Asia and America: United States (including Philippines) . . . 597, 000 Dutch . 39,000,000 French . . 3,341,860 Russia (Asia and Europe) . 15,320,000 Europe (outside Turkey) . 2,469,957 Central and South America . 193,429 94482,077 This leaves in round numbers only 33,000,000 Mohammedans not under Western governments. Of this number, only 8,321,000 remain under Turkish rule in what was once the Ottoman Empire or only a little more than 3 per cent, of the whole Moslem world population. The remainder not under Western rule are in China, Afghanistan, Persia, Siam and parts of Arabia. Another fact deserves attention. Professor Margoliouth states {Mohammedanism, p. 14) that ‘Tslam in the main is a religion of the heat belt, the part of the earth’s sunrise which lies between 30 degrees N. Latitude and 30 degrees S. Latitude [286] APPENDIX B with a mean temperature of 6o° F”; and he quotes Mr. Alleyn Ireland as saying — “During the past five hundred years the people of this belt have added nothing whatever to human advancement. Those natives of the tropics and sub¬ tropics who have not been under direct European influence have not during that time made a single contribution of the first importance to art, literature, science, manufacture or in¬ vention. They have not produced an engineer, or a chemist, or a biologist, or a historian or a printer or a musician of the first rank.’^ But a study of our statistics shows that such generalisations are rash, for Islam has extended far to the north and south of this heat belt and counts outside this area a population of no less than 64,090,000. These are distributed in general as follows : OUTSIDE THE HEAT BELT In Morocco . 5,000,000 Algeria . 5,000,000 Tunisia . 1,890,000 Kashmir . 3,000,000 Half of the Punjab . 6,000,000 In Russia . . 15,000,000 Three-quarters of China . 6,000,000 Afghanistan . 6,000,000 Turkey in Asia . 8,000,000 Three-quarters of Persia . 6,000,000 Europe . 2,000,000 North and South America . 200,000 Total . 64,090,000 A much more important division of the Moslem world population than that by climate or even according to govern¬ ment is the classification of Moslems according to the character of their beliefs and practices. Snouck Hurgronje, Warneck and Simon have conclusively shown that the Mohammedans of Malaysia are of animistic type and have little in common with Moslems of the orthodox kind in North Africa and Arabia. Of the total number who call themselves Moslems we must reckon, therefore, that per¬ haps sixty millions in Africa, Malaysia and part of India belong to this animistic type, or, in the words of Gottfried Simon are really “heathen-Mohammedans.” The Shiah sect [287] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM (NOTE: The total of Moslem population, as shown in the charts on this and the following page and in the population map of the Mohammedan world, differs slightly from the figures given elsewhere in the Appendix, the reason being that the latter were revised at the last moment to accord with latest estimates. The difference is, however, so slight as in no way to affect the validity of the charts.) [288] APPENDIX B POLITICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MOSLEMS [289] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM in Persia and India is also a distinct group, but does not number more than twelve millions. Perhaps from six to ten millions of the total Moslem population in Europe, South America, Algeria, Syria, Persia, Turkey, India and Egypt have so far adopted Western education and broken away from the old Islamic standards of the orthodox Tradition, that they should be separately classified as New Moslems. This would leave about one hundred and fifty million orthodox Moslems who follow the Sunna of the Prophet, and are therefore cognisant of the existence and of the distinctions of the four great schools — Hanifi, Maliki, Shafa’i, Hanabali. The Hanifi are in the great majority and number perhaps ninety -three mil¬ lions, chiefly in Turkey, India, Russia and Central Asia. The Maliki school is predominant in Upper Egypt and North Africa and numbers about twenty millions. The Shafa’i are found chiefly in Lower Egypt, Southern India, and Malaysia, numbering about thirty-five millions, while the Hanabali are found mostly in Central and Eastern Arabia and do not num¬ ber over two million altogether. From this school the Wahhabi sect and later, the Ikhwan movement sprang. Another classification of Moslem population which is of considerable importance is that according to literacy. For two large areas we have accurate returns, namely, British India and Egypt. For other lands we can only make esti¬ mates, based on investigations by missionaries and travellers. The figures of illiteracy for Egypt according to the government census (1917) indicate that of the Moslem population 9.9 per cent, of the men and 0.6 per cent, of the women can read. For India similar statistics are given in the census and are equally astounding in the revelation of so great an amount of illiteracy. Based on these returns we have made estimates of other coun¬ tries, and the conclusion is that the total number of Moslems in the world able to read is less than eight millions and of these fewer than 500,000 are women. These facts emphasise at once the intensive need of leadership for the educated classes of Islam and the inadequacy of the printed page to reach the masses unless supplemented by the living message in the vernacular. [290] APPENDIX B The following table presents these interesting facts in outline : LITERACY IN THE MOSLEM WORLD (Estimated totals, in round numbers, of those of both sexes who are literate, on basis of new census estimates.) Total . . . , Moslem British Possessions in Asia: Literates Total Moslem population 78 million. Literates according to Indian Census 3.7% . 2,886,000 Egypt and North Africa: Total Moslem population 30 million. On basis of literacy in Egypt 5% . 1,500,000 Remainder of Africa: 31 million at 2% . 620,000 Europe {exclusive of Russia) and America: 2^ million Estimated at 20% . 500,000 Independent, Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, and Turkey: Total population 20 million. Literacy not over 6% . 1,200,000 Russia in Europe and Asia: Total Moslem population 15 million. Literacy 20% . 3,000,000 China: Total population 9 million. Say 6% . . 540,000 Dutch East Indies, Philippines, Siam, etc.: Total populatior 47 million. Say 4% . 1,880,000 12,126,000 It is to be noted that the estimated number of those who listen to one reader is at least five. Therefore, the total of those accessible by the printed page is nearly sixty-one million or a little over one-fifth of the total population. We note also that illiteracy is decreasing rapidly in those lands where the Government is pushing popular education. Here follows the census for all lands in detail and the totals for each continental division, giving authority in each case for our estimate of Moslem population. [291] A STATISTICAL SURVEY OF THE MOSLEM WORLD LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN FOLLOWING TABLES S.Y.B. — Statesman’s Year Book, 1922. P.H.B. — Peace Hand Books — H.M. Stationery Office, 1920. M.W. — Moslem World Quarterly Review. (Figures give Vol. & Page.) C.O.L. — Civil Office List London. R.M.M. — Revue du Monde Musulman. (Figures give Vol. & Page.) Total for whole world 234,814,989, as follows: Country Total Moslem or State Population Population Authority NORTH AMERICA TOTAL 11,000 United States . . . . 114,511,514 11,000 Est. based on 1920 census. CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA TOTAL 193,429 racial statistics. Argentine . 8,698,516 7,520 R. M. M. 4 :3I4 Brazil . . 30,645,296 100,600 Ibid. Chile . . 3,753,723 150 Ibid. Cuba . . 2,889,004 2,500 Ibid. Quadeloupe . 229,822 3,200 Ibid. Guiana, British .. 297,691 24,800 est. based on Dutch ... 113,181 15,431 S. Y. B. 1922 S. Y. B. 1922 French .. 49,000 1,570 R. M. M. 4:314 Jamaica . 857,921 3,000 est. based on Martinique . 244,439 2,700 S. Y. B. 1922 R. M. M. 4:314 Mexico . . 15,501,684 4,453 S. Y. B. 1922 Paraguay . 1,050,000 300 R. M. M. 4:314 Peru . . 4,620,201 500 Ibid. Trinidad . 391,279 26,000 est. based on Uruguay . . 1,494,953 500 S. Y. B. 1922 R. M. M. 4:314 Venezuela . Windward Is. . . . . 2,411,952 162,702 205 R. M. M. 4:314 AUSTRALIA . . 5,436,794 25,000 For. Affairs 1:139 POLYNESIA 7^ • • • tljl . . 162,604 15,000 M. W. 9:265 EUROPE TOTAL including Russia in Asia . 172,780,676 17,789,957 [292] APPENDIX B Total Country Population Albania . 1,400,000 Bulgaria . 4,861,439 Greece . 5,447,007 Hungary . 7,840,832 Montenegro . 450,000 Rumania . I7»393,i49 Russia European . 93,3^7,9^31 Minor Areas . . . 2 1,404,745 5 Siberia . 9,257,825 Serb Croat Slovene State .... 1 1,337,686 AFRICA TOTAL . I25,8o6,77I Belgian Congo ... 11,008,221 Portuguese Guinea . 289,000 Mozambique . . . 3,120,000 Spanish Rio de Oro & Adrar . 80,000 Ifni . 20,000 Span. Morocco.. 600,000 Abyssinia . est. 4,000,000 Liberia . 2,000,000 Italian Eritrea . 405,681 Somaliland . 650,000 Lybia . 1,000,000 French Algeria . 5,800,974 Congo . 9,000,000 Comores & Mayotte . 97,6i7i Madagascar .... 3,545, 575S Somaliland . 65,000 West Africa Senegal . 1,225,523 Guinea . 1,875,996 Ivory Coast . . 1,545,680 Dahomey . 842,243 Moslem Population Authority 830,000 S. Y. B. 1922 672,500 P. H. B. No. 22 p. 8 475,000 For. Affairs 1:139 105,000 P. H. B. No. 19 p. 36 44,087 S. Y. B 1922 15,200,000 Arnold Toynbee in Journ. Asiatic Soc. vol. 5, parts I, 2. 120,000 est. of Min. of Inter. M. W. 6:203 343,370 Census 1920 59,444,397 1,764,000 est. based on report of Gov., 1917, and P. H. B. No. 199 p. 47 100,000 est. based on Westermann M. W. 4:150 130,000 Ibid. 79,500 est. based on P. H. B. No. 124, p. 8 & 17 20,000 Ibid. 495,000 est. of Count Merry del Val. M. W. 10:408 t. 2,000,000 S. Y. B. 1922 300,000 P. H. B. No. 130; p. 20 300,000 P. H. B. No. 126 p. 19 650,000 P. H. B. No. 128 p. 14 700,000 S. Y. B. 1922 4,979,547 S. Y. B. 1922 5,700,000 est. based on P. H. B. No. 108 p. 17 75,000 Westermann, M. W. 4:151 65,000 P. H. B. No. 109 p. 16 1,225,000 P. H, B. No. 100 p. 3 1,563,000 est. based on P. H. B. No. 103 p. 5 & 6 305,000 est. based on 1913 A. E. and pop. increase 294,000 est. based on P. H. B. No. 105 p. 6 [293] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Total Moslem Country Population Population Sudan . 2,473,606 1,551,000 Upper Volta . 2,973,442 444,000 Mauritania . . . 261,746 250,000 Terr, of Niger 1,084,042 1,084,042 Tunisia . 2,093,939 1,889,388 Morocco . 5,487,800 5,323,495 British Uganda . 3,071,608 73,000 Nyasaland . 1,201,519 50,000 Egypt . 12,750,918 11,658,148 Sudan . 3,400,000 1,793,000 Kenya . 2,630,000 427,000 Tanganyika .... 7,659,898 1,276,600 Zanzibar & Pemba . 196,733 183,600 Basutoland . 500,544' Bechuanaland . . 152,983 Rhodesia . 1,735,000 ' 9,03s Swaziland . 133,563] Union of So. Africa ... 6,922,813 45,842 Nigeria . 16,250,000 10,833,000 Gambia . 240,000 28,800 Gold Coast .... 2,029,750 101,400 Sierra Leone . . . 1,403,132 300,000 Togoland . 1,032,125 500,000 Cameroons . 2,649,000 578,000 Somaliland . 300,000 300,000 ASIA AND ISLANDS TOTAL . 157,336,206 Authority Annuaire de gouv’t 1922 Ibid. P. H. B. No. 106 p. 9 S. Y. B. 1922 Ibid. P. H. B. No. 96 p. 52 est. of C. H. Patton “Lure of Africa” p. 61 S. Y. B. 1922 Gov’t Almanac 1916 est. of L. Martin For. Affairs 1:139 est. of C. H. Patton “Lure of Africa” p. 61 S. Y. B. 1922 C O. L. 1913 & pop. increase S. Y. B. 1922 est. of C. H. Patton “Lure of Africa” p. 61 P. H. B. No. 1 12 p. 17 P. H. B. No. 91 p. 13 C. O. L. 1913 corrected by pop. increase est. based on P. H. B. No. 10 p. 24 est. based on Westermann M. W. 4:150 S. Y. B. 1922 British Aden & Perim. . 54,923 Sokotra & Kuria Muria.. 12,000 Bahrein Is . 110,000 Borneo . 208,183 Brunei . 25,454 Sarawak . 600,000 Ceylon . 4,504,283 Maidive Is . 70,199 India & De¬ pendencies ... 319,075,132 Straits Settlements . . . 883,769 54,000 S. Y. B. 1922 12,000 Ibid. 109,000 Ibid. 162,500 Ibid. 23,900 Ibid. 150,000 est. of W. G. Shellabear M. W. 9:379 302,000 S. Y. B. 1922 70,199 M. W. 13:67 70,000,000 S. Y. B. 1922 est. 258,719 est. of W. G. Shellabear M. W. 9:379 [294] APPENDIX B Total Country Population Fed. Malay- State s . 1,324,890 Protected Malay States... 1,123,264 Cyprus . 274,108 Armenian Rep. ... 1,214,391 Azerbaijan . 2,096,973 Georgia . 2,372403 Mesopotamia . 2,849,282 Palestine . 770,000 Oman . 500,000 Persia . 10,000,000 Siam . 9,121,000 Syria & Lebanon. . 3,400,000 Turkey . 8,961,900 Arabia . 3,400,000 China China Proper .. 411,491,940 Dependencies ... 16,540,000 Afghanistan . 6,380,500 East Indies Portuguese Timor . 377, 815 American Philippines . 10,350,730 Dutch East Indies .... 49,303,321 French India . 265,200 Indo-China . 16,990,229 Totals by Continents: NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA EUROPE AND AUSTRALIA . ASIA AND ISLANDS . AFRICA . . Moslem Population 'Authority 420,840 Ibid. 758,060 Ibid. 56,428 S. Y. B. 1922 670,000 S. Y. B. 1921 1,572,929 S. Y. B. 1922 2,300,000 est. of Arnold Toynbee Journ. Asiatic Soc. 5: Pt. 2 & 3 2,640,700 S. Y. B. 1922 600,000 Ibid. 500,000 Ibid. 9,350,000 Ibid. 150,000 est. of W. G. Shellabear M. W. 9 :379 3,000,000 S. Y. B. 1922 8,321,000 S. Y. B. 1922 3,400,000 Ibid. 6,433,000 China Cont. 2,703,000 Committee 6,380,000 est. based on L. Martin For. Aff. I ;i39 & S Y B 1922 9,000 est. based on P. H. B. No. 80 p. 3 & W. G. Shellabear M. W. 9 1379 586,999 S. Y. B. 1922 36,000,000 est. of W. G. Shellabear corrected by pop. in¬ crease 13,260 P. H. B. No. 77 p. 18 328,600 204,429 17,829,957 157,336,206 59,444,397 M. W. 8 ;269 [295]' 234,814,989 I INDEX ’0 / / i (• r I. "■I /V-. j INDEX *Abbas Hirza, loo. ‘Abbas Mirza, loo. Abdul Halim Sharar, 27. Abyssinian language, Christian literature in the, 158. Advertising, enlisting the co-oper¬ ation of missionaries, 247; gen¬ eral advertising, 249. Afghanistan, divided in language, 107. Africa, literature for Moslems in, 153. Africa, North, government atti¬ tude in, 20; problem of pro¬ duction of Christian literature in, 199; publisher and printer in, 226. African languages, 170. Ahmadiya Moslems, sect of the, 30. Alaka Paulas, 159. Alaka Petros, 159. Alevis, the, 86. Algeria, Christian literature in, 67; linguistic map of, 163; lit¬ erature needed, 6g; new Mos¬ lem literature in, 24; spread of literacy in, 20. Al Islam, 120, 262. A1 Kindy, 33. Al Manar, the, 262. A. L. O. E., 42. Al Gibla, 25. Al Waqai‘a al Masriya, 24. Amdn-t- Afghan, 108. American Christian Literature Society for Moslems, 52. American (United Presbyterian) Mission, 72. America Press, the, 60, 109, 225. Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam, 115. Anselm, 32. Aouelimmiden, the, 164. Apologetic literature, 58, 63, 68; special, 66; development of, plan for, 69. Arabia, Christian literature in, 64, 65; literature needed, 65; new Moslem literature in, 25; problem of production of Christian literature in, 198; publisher and printer in, 226; spread of literacy in, 19. Arabic character used more widely than any other, 49. Arabic language, colloquial litera¬ ture, 56 ; conclusions as to, 169 ; greatest language of Islam, 48; importance of, 48; literature in the, for Egyptian Sudan and Belgian Congo, 160; need for publications in colloquial, 74; spread of Christian literature in the, 49, 50. Arabic Press, 262. Archer, William, iii. Armstrong, Dr. W. F., 128. Arnold, Dr. T. W., 75. Ashkar, Mr. George, 72. UAuhe, iy6. Authorship, combined, a present compromise, 194; development of, 195; Eastern or Western, 192; free from prejudices or narrowness of vision, 186; lack of provision for, 186; trans¬ lators or original writers? 190. Azad, the, 99. Azerbaijani Turki, 98, 106. Azerbaijani Turkish language, literature published in the, 84. Bagdad, 19. Bahais, Christian literature in language of, the, 105. Bahaism, 55. [299] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Bakhtiaris, the, io6. Balkans, Moslems in the, 97. Bantu language, 154, 155. Basset, Henri, 164. Bazin, Rene, 165. Becker, Professor C. H., 18. Belgian Congo, Christian litera¬ ture in, 160. Beluchi language, existent Chris¬ tian literature in, 127. Bengali language, 120; existent Christian literature in, 121 ; lit¬ erature needed in, 122. Bey an, the, 105. Berber languages, 162. Berber tribes, 20. Beshair es Saldm, 42. Bey, Professor Ilyas Bragon, 183- Bible Histories, 70, 117. Biblical books, 58, 62. Bilkert, Rev. A. H., 72. Biographies, 66, 70, 119. Black Sea area, problem of pro¬ duction of Christian literature in, 201. Bobrovnikoff, Madame, 88 Bonne Revue, La, 176. Books, lists of, sent for this sur¬ vey, 35. Bookshops, 20. Border languages, 125. Bosnard, Magali, 30. Brent, Bishop, 145, 225. Britain, English Christian litera¬ ture in, for Moslems, 181 ; Mos¬ lem literature in, 179; periodi¬ cals, 181. British government and the Press, 20. British government schools, 21. Browne, Professor E. G., 257. Bureau voor Lectuue, 139. Burmese language, existent Christian literature in, 128. Caldwell, Mr., 237. Cash, Rev. W. W., 61. Catholic (Jesuit) Press, the, 60, 225. [300] Census of the Moslem World, a new, 284. Central Literature Bureau, 272; linguistic watersheds, 276 ; local organization, 275; relationships of, 275 ; task of, essentially spiritual, 277; the staff needed, 274. Characters, studies in bible, 57. China, literature for Moslems in, 146; Moslem world in, 146, 147; new Moslem literature in, 28; problem of producing Christian literature in, 198; publisher and printer in, 223. China Continuation Committee Survey, 286. Chinese language, existing Chris¬ tian literature in, 149; litera¬ ture needed, 151. Chinese Turkestan, Moslems of, 91. Christian doctrines, explanation of, 1 18. Christian literature and the New World of Islam, 39. Christian Literature Society, 36. Christian Press, the (see “Litera¬ ture, Christian”), summary, 38. ^ Christian Science Monitor, The, 261. Circassian language, 52. Circulation, adverse factors for, 232 ; advertising, 247 ; local sec¬ retaries for, 251; managers needed, 250; methods of, book¬ shops, 236; circulation by mis¬ sionaries and associate workers, 240; colportage, 243; free dis¬ tribution, 234 ; mission hospitals as centres of distribution, 242; personnel of, 250. Clayton, Rev. A. C., iii. Cole, Rev. M. S., i63. Colportage, 243; co-operation in, 245 ; training and status of, 252. Colloquial literature, 56, 133. Commentaries, 117. INDEX Committee of the World’s Sun¬ day School Association, 52. Comrade, The, 262. Congo, Belgian, Christian litera¬ ture in, 160. Co-operation, 171. Coptic church, 159. Correspondance d'Orient, 174. Cromer, Lord, 24. Ctir Deus Homo, 32. Decorated Scripture, 68; ' Dennis, James S., 79. Diglot literature, 73. Dutch government schools, 21. ^Eberhart, Isabel, 30. Ecce Homo Arabicus, 39. Echos de IT slam, 175. Lf Eclair eur, 176. Eddy, Dr. Sherwood, 262, Editorial Board of Orient and Occident, 52. Education, French, in North Africa, 21 ; in India, 21. Educational books, 62. Educative literature, 66. Edwardes, Sir Herbert, 36. Egypt, Christian literature in, 51 ; new Moslem literature in, 24; noteworthy features of the Nile Mission Press in, 54; note¬ worthy features of literature produced by other societies in, 56; problem of production of Christian literature in, 200 ; publisher and printer in, 225; spread of literacy in, 20. Egyptian Sudan, Arabic used in the, 160; Christian literature in, 160. Encyclopedia Britannica, 25. English language among the In¬ dian Moslems, 124; literature in the, for Moslems, 178. Epiphany, The, 264. Erickson, Rev. C. T., 96. Esperance, 176. Europe, as part of the Moslem world, 173. Evangelism, newspaper, 257. Evangelistic tracts, booklets, and pictures, 70, 118. Expository literature, 66. Farquhar, Dr. 203. Figaro, the, 174. Ford, Rev. G. A., 63. Fossum, Pastor O. L., 107. Foucauld, Pere de, 165. La Fraternite Musulmane, 174. Francis, St., 33. French language, Christian litera¬ ture in, for Moslems, 174; in North Africa, 20; literature needed, 177; periodicals that may be used, 175. Funds, use of, for free distribu¬ tion of literature, 235. Gairdner, Canon W. H. T., 39, 61, 73- Garden of the Heart, The, 263. Gazaq language, literature pub¬ lished in the, 94. German language, Christian lit¬ erature in, for Moslems, 182. Germany, Christian literature for Moslems in, 182. Gospel message, the same for all, 46. Gujerati language, existent Christian literature in, 129. Hamburg Kolonial Institut, 257. Hanabali, the, 288. Hanifi, the, 288. Heat belt, Islam and the, 287. Herrick, Dr. George, 83. Hindi language, existent Chris¬ tian literature in, 124. Home church, duty of the, 189. Home reading, general, 59, 71. Hooper, C. T., 159. Housa language, Christian litera¬ ture in the, 167. Hunter, Rev. G. W., 93. Hurgronje, Snouck, 18. Hutson, Mr., 148. [301]' CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Hyderabad, Osmanieh University of, 115. Ikhwan movement, 19, 288. Illustrated London News, the 238. Illustrated parables, 68. Ilm, 135. Ilminski, Professor, 88. India, Christian literature in, III; English Christian litera¬ ture in, 178; Mohammedan education in India, 21 ; new Moslem literature in, 26; prob¬ lem of production of Christian literature in, 203 ; publisher and printer, in, 223; spread of lit¬ eracy in, 20. Inkishafl, the, 155. Instruction Books, 118. Insulinde, definition of, 134; lan¬ guages to be used in, 139; lit¬ erature produced in, 139. Jranschahr, the, 258. *Iraq, Christian literature in, 64, 65; literature needed, 65; new Moslem literature in, 25 ; spread of literacy in, 19. Ireland, Alleyn, 287. Islamic Review, the, 30, 180, 262. Ulslamisme, 178. Ismail Bey Gasprinsky, 26, 88. Italian language, 183. Ittihad-i-Mashriqi, 108. Ishdr-al-Haqq, 23. Javanese language, literature in the, 139. Jeune FiUe, La, 176. Journal des Ecoles de Dimanche, 176. Jwarson, Rev. J. J., 159. Kashgar Turki language, litera¬ ture published in the, 98. Kashmiri language, existent Christian literature in, 126. Kaveh, the, 258. Kemal-id-Din, 179. [302] Keswick Convention, message of, 55- Khirgiz language, literature pub¬ lished in the, 94. Knapp, G. I., 107. Koelle, Dr., 83. Koran, the, 22, 148. Kremer, Dr., 36. Kurdish language, 82. Kurds, the, 106. Labbars, the, 131. Lamattes, the, 94. Languages, Abbyserian, 158; Af¬ rican, 154; areas of, different, 205; Africa, North, 208; Ara¬ bia, 206 ; China, 208 ; Egypt, 208; India, 206; Malaysia, 209; North Africa, 208; Syria, 207; Turkey, 207; Bantu, 154, 155; Beluchi, 127; Bengali, 120; Berber, the, 162; border, 125; Burmese, 128; Chinese, 146; English, 178; English, among the Indian Moslems, 124; Ger¬ man, 182; Gujerati, 129; Hausa, 167; Hindi, 124; Jav¬ anese, 139; Kashmiri, 126; Madurese, 140; Malay, 136; Marathi, 129; Mussulmani, 120; Mussulmani Punjabi, 123; Nupe, 167; Nyanja, 156; of South India, 129; Pushtu, 126; Sindi, 124; Sudanese, 139; Swahili, 154; Tamail, 129; to be used in Insulinde, 139; Uganda, 157; Urdu, 112; Yao, 156. Lars, the, 106. Le Chatelier, Professor Al., 18, Leitner, Dr., 179. Leuga gua, the, 155. Levy, Reuben, 258. Life, books on Christian, 70. Life, literature on Christ’s mes¬ sage for, 59. Linguistic watersheds, 276. Literacy, increasing, 19; in the Moslem world, 289 ; in the Philippines, 145. INDEX Literature, a central bureau for, 272-275 ; Christian, and the new world of Islam, 39; Chris¬ tian Press and Islam, the, 34; diglot, 73 ; existent, for Per¬ sian reading Moslems, loi ; lit¬ erature needed, 103; for Bal¬ kan Moslems, 79; for Persian reading Moslems, 99; existent literature, loi ; literature needed, 103; for the Bahais, 105; for the barely literate, 40; for the Moslem mystics, 73 ; for Turanian Moslems, 79; in India, conclusions as to, 132; in Malaysia, 134; in Palestine, 60; in Syria, 60; in the European languages for Moslems, 173; general conclusions as to, 183; in the Moslem world, 32; in the Philippines, 134; liturgical, 72; need for, in colloquial Ar¬ abic, 74; often unintelligible to Moslems even when translated, 47; problem of production, 197; summary of, 210; purpose of, 43, 44 ; reports on literature for Moslems, 37; scope of, 41; spread of, in Egypt, 54; sug¬ gested solution of the problem of publication, 220 ; summary of, in Persian language, 109; task of increasing, essentially spiritual, 277 ; the publisher and printer, 223 ; use of, in Arabic language, 48 ; what is needed in Egypt, 58; of the Ahmadiya movement, 30; old Moslem, 22; new Moslem, 23. Literature Committee, as pub¬ lisher, 212; financing a, 217; personnel of, 215. Literature Committee of the American Mission, 52. Literature Committee of the Church Missionary Society, 52. Literature Department of the Egypt General Mission, 52. Liturgical literature, 72. Liu Chi, 149, 150. Liwal-el-Islam, 183. Loewenthal, Isador, 107. London Missionary Society, 138. Loti, Pierre, 30. Lucknow Literature Committee, 205. Luganda (see “Uganda”). Lull, Raymond, 33. Maarif, Mudir al, 285. Macdonald, D. B., 37. MacGillivray, Dr., 150, 260. Madurese language, 140. Magazine literature, 57. Malay language, Christian litera¬ ture needed, 143; entry of Christian literature in, 138; lit¬ erature produced, 141. Malaysia, as a part of the Mos¬ lem world, 134; chief languages of Moslems in, 137; decrease of illiteracy, 17; new Moslem literature in, 27; problem of production of Christian litera¬ ture in, 204 ; publisher and printer in, 224. Maliki, the, 288. Mansell, Rev. Harry B., 134. Mapillahs, the, 130. Marabouts, the, 162. Marathi language, existent Chris¬ tian literature in, 129. Margoliouth, Professor, 287. Martyn, Henry, 34, 48. Mason, Rev. I., 150. Ma Tang-po, Mr., 150. Mayer, Miss Jenny de, 82, 92. Mecca, 18, 136. Mennonites, German, in Russian Turkestan, 94. Mesnard, Rev. J. A., 169. Methodist Episcopal Church Press, 139. Methods of circulation, book¬ shops, 236; circulation by mis¬ sionaries and associate work¬ ers, 240 ; colportage, 243 ; co-op¬ eration in colportage, free dis- [303] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM tribution, 234; mission hos¬ pitals as centres of distribution, 242. Michell, B., translates Cur Deus Homo into Arabic, 32. Mission boards concerned with Moslems, strong policy needed, 189. Missionary bookshops, 237. Mizan al Haqq, 35. Mohammed ‘Abdu, grand Mufti of Egypt, 28. Mohammed ad-Damiri, 48. Moplas, the, 130. Morocco, Christian literature in, 67; literature needed, 69; new Moslem literature in, 24 ; spread of literacy in, 20. Moslem controversy, the, 56. Moslem literature, old and new, 28. Moslem Press, the, 17; survey of, 18. Moslem Sunrise, The, 182. Moslem Sunshine, the, 182. Moslem world, the, a new census of, 284; Africa, 153; Arabic greatest language of, 48; boys and girls in the, 41 ; Christian literature in the, 32; Christian unity in, 270; European coun¬ tries in the, 173; general con¬ clusion as to Christian litera¬ ture, in the Arabic language, 71; learning to read, 19; liter¬ ary in, 289; statistical survey of, 290; those educated along western lines, 40; the Philip¬ pines, 134; unity of, 269; why a special literature for, 45. Moslem World, The, 74, 271. Moslem Young Men’s Associa¬ tion, 148. Moslems, chief languages to be used in literature for, 112; each great European language has opportunity of serving, 183; in Russia, 87; in the Balkans, 91; literature for secretaries, 66; of Chinese Turkestan, 91 ; of [304] the Balkans, 95; population in Asiatic Turkey, sample page of bilingual, published in China, 29; the Bible for, 55; why the need of special Christian lit¬ erature for, 45. Motylinski, M., 165. Muhammadi, the, 121, 262. Muir, Sir William, 68. Muslim Standard, The, 180. Mussulman, The, 262. Mussulman! language (see Ben¬ gali language). Mussulman! Punjabi, existent Christian literature in, 123. Mylrea, Dr. C. S. G., 259. Mysticism, literature on and for Moslem, 73. Mystics, Christ’s message for Moslem, 55. Near East, The, 79. New Life Society, 266. Newspaper evangelism, 257. Nigeria, Northern, Christian lit¬ erature in, 166. Nile Mission Press, the, 33, 52, 67, 231 ; noteworthy features of the literature of, 54. Noaye Kristas, 159. Northern Nigeria, Christian lit¬ erature in, 166. Nupe language, Christian litera¬ ture in, 167. Nur Afshan, 42, 263. Nyanja language, Christian lit¬ erature in the, 156. Ogumbiyi, Rev. T. A. J., 168. Orient et Occident, 42, 175. Original authors or the work of translators? 190. Osmanieh University of Hydera¬ bad, 1 1 5. Osmanli Turkish language, 82; literature needed in the, 84; persons to be reached by lit¬ erature in the, 85. Outcastes Hope, The, 55. Owetaranian, W. Johannes, 96. INDEX Palestine, Christian literature in, 6o; problem of production of Christian literature in, 199. Patton, Cornelius H., 173. Pennell, Dr. T. L., 108, 126. Periodical literature, 119. Persia, new Moslem literature in, 26; problem of production of Christian literature in, 202; publisher and printer in, 227. Persian language, Christian books urgently needed, 104; existent Christian literature, loi ; groups using other than, 106; literature needed, 103; sugges¬ tions as to books in the, 104, 105; summary, 109. Persian reading Moslems, 99. Peursem, Van, 253. Pfander, Gustav, 34, 36, 83. Philippines, the, as part of the Moslem world, 134; most east¬ erly kingdom of Islam, 145. Pickthall, Marmaduke, 30. Pictures, 133; and the publisher, 229; need for, 74. Pieters, Dr. Albertus, 257, 259. Pocock, Edward, 60. Popley, Rev. H. A., 73. Prayer, books of, 66. Press, Henry Martyn, 109. Printer, and the publisher, 223. Production, problem of, 197; summary of, 210. ‘‘Provindahs,” the, 127. Publication (see also “Pub¬ lisher”), problem of, 211; pub¬ lication committees, personnel of, 212; suggested solutions of the problem of, 220. Publisher, and pictures, 229; and the printer, 223 ; literature com¬ mittee as, 212; personnel of publication committees, 215; problem of picking, 21 1. Punjab Religious Book Society, 109. Pushtu language, 107, 126; exist¬ ent Christian literature in, 127. Puthij 1 21, Rabino, H., 258. Ravidtans, the, 131. Rayon de Soleil, Le, 176. Review of Religions, The, 262. Riggs, C. T., 79. Ritson, Dr., 231. Rhodes, Rev. F. E., 149, 250. Roome, W. J. W., 153, 161, 166. Rouse, Dr. 131. Russia, new Moslem literature in, 26; Moslems in, 87. Russian language, 183. Sabah, the, 83. Sadiq, Dr. M. M., 182. Sahara, the, Christian literature in the, 162-165; literature needed, 165. Sart Turkish language, literature published in the, 90. Secretaries, literature for Mos¬ lem, 66. Sell, Canon E., 133, 153. Semeur, Le, 176. Senegal, Christian literature in, 169. Sevres, Peace Treaty of, 284. Shafa’i, the, 288. Shari-Chad Protectorate, the, 161. Shellabear, W. G., 140, 142. Shi‘ites (Kisilbashis) of Turkey, the, 86. Shiah sect, 288. Simon, Gottfried, 136, 288. Sindi language, existent Chris¬ tian literature in, 124. Smith, Rev. Percy, 69, 72. Social life, Christ’s message for, 71, 118. South India, languages of, 129. Southern Sudan, the, Christian literature in, 166. Speer, Dr. Robert, 108, no. Stanton, Dr. Weitbrecht, 109, 180, 184. Star of the East, The, 105. Stories, need for, 66, 119, 133; Arabic in Syria, 63; lack of stories in the Nile Mission Press, 56. [305] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ISLAM Sudan, Western, Christian litera¬ ture in, 169. Sudanese language, 139. Sufis, the, 86. Sufism, 23, 26. Sunday school literature, 57. Surat Habar Sing Sug, 145. Survey, the, 44; personnel of survey organization, 281. Swahili language, Christian lit¬ erature in, 154. Sweet First Fruits, 63. Syria, Christian literature in, 60; literature needed, 63 ; new Moslem literature in, 24; note¬ worthy features of literature published in, 62 ; problem of production of Christian litera¬ ture in, 199; publisher and printer in, 225; spread of lit¬ eracy in, 20. Tadjik language, 82. Takle, Rev. J., 121. Tamil language, existent Chris¬ tian literature in, 129. Tatar Kirghiz language, litera¬ ture published in the, 88. Teachers’ books, 70. Times, The, 108. Times Literary Supplement, 266. Touareg, the, 164. Toynbee, Arnold, 80. Translators or original writers? 190. Trowbridge, Rev. S. V. R., 86. Tucker, Miss, 42. Tunisia, Christian literature in, 67; literature needed, 69; new Moslem literature in, 24; spread of literacy in, 20. Turkey, new Moslem literature in, 25 ; problem of production of Christian literature in, 201 ; publisher and printer in, 226; spread of literacy in, 20. Turkevich, Leonid, 89. Turkoman language, 82. Uganda language, Christian lit¬ erature in the, 157. Ugolino, Cardinal, 33. United States, Christian litera¬ ture for Moslems in, 182. Unity, in the Moslem world, 269. Upson, A. T., 53, 205, 251, 255. Urdu language, 112; existent Christian literature in, 114, 1 16; literature needed, 117; suggestions for literature in the, 120. Verse, 69, 71. Wadai, 161. Wahhabi sect, 288. Walter, H. A., 181. Walton, Rev. G. Murray, 267. Watson, Dr. Charles R., 269. Weakley, Rev. R. H., 83. Western Sudan, Christian litera¬ ture in, 169. Werner, Miss Alice, 155. Western, F. W., 117. Western education in Islam, 40. ^‘What Happened Before the Hijra,” 37. Wherry, Dr. E. M., 47, 117, 132. White Wolf, The, 79. William, Emperor, 285. Woking Press, 180. Xavier, Jerome, 34. Yao language, Christian litera¬ ture in the, 156. Y. W. C. A. of Cairo, 264. Zawias, the, 162. Zwemer, Rev. Samuel M., 61, ISO, 186, 249. V 173 0571 Date Due r . . ki. ' 'f1 / ^9- '\ ■ . i 1 . - ! . \ i ' j i 1 i • ■ ■* ■y^ * s