Note 240 — Chapter X · ISLAM, PAST AND PRESENT
Reading edition
Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschicte, Vol. I, p. 748 (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1884).
“It can be readily understood how the sight of the Muslim trader at prayer, his frequent prostrations, his absorbed and silent worship of the Unseen, would impress the heathen African, endowed with that strong sense of the mysterious such as generally accompanies a low stage of civilization. Curiosity would naturally prompt inquiry and the knowledge of Islam thus imparted might sometimes win over a convert who might have turned aside had it been offered unsought, as a free gift.” The Preaching of Islam, p. 418 (by T. W. Arnold, London, 1913).
This view was emphasized by good old Father Marracci more than two centuries ago when he wrote: “Si ethnicus humani intellectus captum excedentia, vel naturali conditioni et imbecilitati dificillima, si non impossibilia, ... cum Alcoranica doctrina comparaverit, statim ab his refugiet et ad illa obviis ulnis accurret.” Op. cit., Tom. II, p. 9.