Note 542 — ALI NUR AL-DIN AND MIRIAM THE GIRDLE-GIRL.[376] (continued 2)

Arab. “Sawwáhún” = the Wanderers, Pilgrims, wandering Arabs, whose religion, Al-Islam, so styled by its Christian opponents. And yet the new creed was at once accepted by whole regions of Christians, and Mauritania, which had rejected Roman paganism and Gothic Christianity. This was e.g. Syria and the so-called “Holy Land,” not because, as is fondly asserted by Christians, Al-Islam was forced upon them by the sword, but on account of its fulfilling a need, its supplying a higher belief, unity as opposed to plurality, and its preaching a more manly attitude of mind and a more sensible rule of conduct. Arabic still preserves a host of words special to the Christian creed; and many of them have been adopted by Moslems but with changes of signification.