ANNOUNCEMENT. (continued 3)

It is the Christian mission that shows the deepest consciousness of this state of things, and the greatest activity in promoting an association of Mohammedan thought with that of Western nations. The solid mass of experience due to the efforts of numerous missionaries is not of an encouraging nature. There is no reasonable hope of the conversion of important numbers of Mohammedans to any Christian denomination. Broad-minded missionary societies have therefore given up the old fruitless proselytizing methods and have turned to social improvement in the way of education, medical treatment, and the like. It cannot be denied, that what they want above all to bring to Mohammedans is just what these most energetically decline to accept. On the other hand the advocates of a purely civilizing mission are bound to acknowledge that, but for rare exceptions, the desire of incorporating Mohammedan nations into our world of thought does not rouse the devoted, self-denying enthusiasm inspired by the vocation of propagating a religious belief. The ardour displayed by some missionaries in establishing in the Dâr al-Islâm Christian centres from which they distribute to the Mohammedans those elements of our civilization which are acceptable to them deserves cordial praise; the more so because they themselves entertain but little hope of attaining their ultimate aim of conversion. Mohammedans who take any interest in Christianity are taught by their own teachers that the revelation of Jesus, after having suffered serious corruption by the Christians themselves, has been purified and restored to its original simplicity by Mohammed, and are therefore inaccessible to missionary arguments; nay, amongst uncivilized pagans the lay mission of Islâm is the most formidable competitor of clerical propagation of the Christian faith.

People who take no active part in missionary work are not competent to dissuade Christian missionaries from continuing their seemingly hopeless labour among Mohammedans, nor to prescribe to them the methods they are to adopt; their full autonomy is to be respected. But all agree that Mohammedans, disinclined as they are to reject their own traditions of thirteen centuries and to adopt a new religious faith, become ever better disposed to associate their intellectual, social, and political life with that of the modern world. Here lies the starting point for two divisions of mankind which for centuries have lived their own lives separately in mutual misunderstanding, from which to pursue their way arm in arm to the greater advantage of both. We must leave it to the Mohammedans themselves to reconcile the new ideas which they want with the old ones with which they cannot dispense; but we can help them in adapting their educational system to modern requirements and give them a good example by rejecting the detestable identification of power and right in politics which lies at the basis of their own canonical law on holy war as well as at the basis of the political practice of modern Western states. This is a work in which we all may collaborate, whatever our own religious conviction may be. The principal condition for a fruitful friendly intercourse of this kind is that we make the Moslim world an object of continual serious investigation in our intellectual centres.

Having spent a good deal of my life in seeking for the right method of associating with modern thought the thirty-five millions of Mohammedans whom history has placed under the guardianship of my own country, I could not help drawing some practical conclusions from the lessons of history which I have tried to reduce to their most abridged form. There is no lack of pessimists, whose wisdom has found its poetic form in the words of Kipling:

East is East and West is West, And never the twain shall meet.

To me, with regard to the Moslim world, these words seem almost a blasphemy. The experience acquired by adapting myself to the peculiarities of Mohammedans, and by daily conversation with them for about twenty years, has impressed me with the firm conviction that between Islâm and the modern world an understanding is to be attained, and that no period has offered a better chance of furthering it than the time in which we are living. To Kipling's poetical despair I think we have a right to prefer the words of a broad-minded modern Hindu writer: "The pity is that men, led astray by adventitious differences, miss the essential resemblances[1]."

[Footnote 1: S.M. Mitra, Anglo-Indian Studies, London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1913, P. 232.]

It would be a great satisfaction to me if my lectures might cause some of my hearers to consider the problem of Islâm as one of the most important of our time, and its solution worthy of their interest and of a claim on their exertion.

INDEX

A

Abbas (Mohammed's uncle) Abbasids government Khalifate Abd-ul-Hamid, Sultan Abduh, Muftî Muhammed Abraham Abu Bakr Abyssinians Africa Africans Agreement of the Community, see 'Ijmâ' Ahl al-hadîth (men of tradition) 'Ajam Al-Ash'arî Alexander the Great Alî, the fourth Khalîf Ali, Mohammed, the first Khedive Alids 'âmils (agents) Anti-Christ Arabia Arabian, view in regard to the line of descent through a woman tribes prophet heathens migration race armies Shi'ah conquerors origin of hajj peninsula Arabic, traditions speech arts custom grammar language Arabs the nations conquered by the of Christian origin Arnold, Professor T.W. Asia Assassins Augustin Azhar-mosque

B

Bâb Dereybah Bâbîs Bagdad Barbarians Basra Beduins Behâ'îs Bellarminius Berber Bible See Scriptures Bibliander Black Stone Boulainvilliers, Count de Breitinger Buddhism Burckhardt Burton Byzantine Empire Byzantines

C

Caetani, Prince Cairo Casanova, Professor of Paris Caussin de Perceval China Chinese Christian religion influence rituals traditions model of obligatory fasting princes states natives of Egypt missions demonstrations centres in Dar al-Islam faith and missionaries Christian Church Roman Catholic Protestant Christianity Christians religious rites of Circassians Coderc Commander of the Faithful Committee of Union and Progress Confucianism Constantinople Crypto-Mohammedanism

D

Dar al-Islâm Day of judgment Doomsday Dutch, Indies

E

Egypt Egyptian, nation students Department of Public Instruction university Egyptians England English university

F

Faqihs (canonists) Faithful Fâtima Fâtimite, dynasty Khalifate Fatwa French university Fu'âd Pasha

G

Ghazalí Gideon Goldziher Gospels See Scriptures

H

Hadith (legislative tradition) Hadramaut Hadramites Hagar Hajj (pilgrimage) Hanafites Hanbalites Haram (mosque) Hell Hijâz Hijrah, Hinduism Holy Cities See Mecca and Medina Holy Family (Ali and Fatimah) Hottinger Hûd, the prophet

I

'Ijmâ' (Agreement of the Community) Imâms of Yemen India Indians, Indonesia Isaac Ishmael Ishma'ilites Islâm

J

Jacob Jâhiliyyah (Arabian paganism) Jesus Christ as Mehdi Jewish, religion influence rituals model of fasting Jews Jihâd Judaism

K

Ka'bah Khalîf, the first Khalifate Khalîfs, the first four Khârijites, Khedive Kipling Kufa

L

Lammens, Father

M

Mahdî Malays Mâlikites Maracci, Abbé Mary (mother of Jesus) Maulid Mecca Meccans Medina Medinese Messiah Middle Ages Misr, see Cairo Mohammedan, religion masters state orthodox dogma authorities law books countries political life church princes world governors subjects masses statesmen protection community territories dogmatics Hell authors law women nations slavery principles standard of tolerance philosophers mystics thought lunar year learning science populations dominions Mohammedans natives of Egypt Mongols Morocco Moses Moslim princes people authority church canonists world chiefs of states woman society heresiologists Muftî Muir Mujtahids Mutakallim Mu'tazilites

N

Neo-Platonic origin of mysticism Neo-Platonism Nöldeke Non-Alids Non-Arabian converts Non-Arabic Moslims

O

Omar Omayyads Othmân authority Ottoman princes Ottomans

P

Paganism Papacy Paradise Parsîs Persia Persian Empire Porte, the Prideaux, Dr. Protestantism

Q

Qâdhîs Qârîs (Qoran scholars) Qarmatians Qoraish Qorân scolars reciters Qorânic, revelations religion

R

Reland, H. Resurrection Roman Catholics

S

Salât Sale Sâlih, the prophet Sasanids Saul Sayyids Scriptures people of the Shâfi'ites Shâhs of Persia Sharî'ah (Divine Law) Shaukah (actual influence) Sheikhites Sheikh-ul-Islâm Sherîfs Sherîfs of Mecca Sherîfs, rulers of Morocco Shî'ah (the Party of the House) Shî'ites Sîrah (biography) Spain Sprenger Stambul Sultan Sunnah Sunnites Syria Syrians

T

Taif Tatars Testament, see Scriptures Tibet Tradition, see Hadith Trinity Turkey Sultan of Turkish, Empire circles conqueror Sultan arms government state officials Turks

U

'Ulamâ' (learned men)

V

Voltaire

W

Wahhâbî reformers Weil Wellhausen Wezîrs

Y

Yemen Imâms of

Z

Zaidites Zakât (taxes) Zanzibar