7C. ,**^ 
 
 SO 
 
 9 * 
 
 * 
 
 * $ a 
 
NEWMARK 
 
 FRANCISCO. CALIF. 
 
 i 
 
Dr. Leo Nevmiark 
 
A IVestern Awakening 
 
 to Islam. 
 
 BY 
 
 LORD ftEADLEY 
 
 GREAT ALLAH, Lord, our God, our King, 
 Who knowest what for us is best, 
 
 We praise Thy Name, and loudly sing 
 The fusion of the East and West. 
 
 "For Christ was an Eastern 
 
 \ 
 
 ILontion : 
 J. S. PHILLIPS, 99 SHOE LANE, E.G. 
 
 J 
 
IVf 
 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE BROTHERS IN ISLAM ... ... ... ... 5 
 
 PREFATORY NOTE ... ... ... ... ... 7 
 
 INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... ... ... 11 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. The Peace of Islam 15 
 
 II. Woman's Position in Islam.. . ... ... 88 
 
 III. The Most Beautiful Gift of God 48 
 
 IV. Wilful Misrepresentations 59 
 
 V. Self-Control 78 
 
 VI. Fear 82 
 
 VII. Law and Order 88 
 
 VIII. The Making of Converts 114 
 
 IX. The Muslims' Lord's Prayer 121 
 
 X. Praise and Thanksgiving ... ... ... 182 
 
 XI. The Continuation of God's Blessings ... 189 
 
 M262150 
 
THE BEOTHEES IN ISLAM. 
 
 IT had been said we could not meet, 
 
 Or join in prayers for further grace 
 Together reach Thy mercy seat 
 
 Or mingle praise in the same place. 
 O Heavenly Father, Thou hast shown 
 
 To us, Thy loving faithful sons, 
 How brotherhood has quickly grown 
 
 Insep'rable while time still runs. 
 In all the ages of the past, 
 
 In all the future years to come, - 
 Thy Name alone can bind us fast, 
 
 Whilst we can say, " Thy Will be done. 
 Great Allah, Lord, our God, our King, 
 
 Who knowest what for us is best , 
 We praise Thy Name and loudly sing 
 
 The fusion of the East and West. 
 
 El Farooq, 
 
 January 5, 1914. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE, 
 
 MANY years ago Mr. Arthur James Balfour, in one 
 of his famous speeches, made use of the aphorism, 
 " There is but one counsellor worse than panic, and 
 that counsellor is despair. ' ' It struck me very much 
 at the time and, in reference to the matter contained 
 in the following pages and the animadversions which 
 are sure to follow my openly expressed convictions 
 with regard to the Muslim religion, I would say 
 there is but one companion worse than disbelief, 
 and that companion is fear. The fear of consequences 
 holds many a man to the open profession of beliefs 
 he has no real confidence in. We all like to secure 
 what is best, the best food, best dwelling, best sur- 
 roundings, and the best friends; but how many of 
 us take any thought about the best religion? Most 
 of us are quite content with that which has been 
 handed dow T n to us, and from a purely selfish point 
 of view, perhaps we are right, as it saves so much 
 'bother," and we keep steadily on in the path so 
 well worn by our ancestors, refusing to even look at 
 or enquire into any other beliefs. 
 
 By a strange coincidence the very morning on 
 which I wrote the above I read an account of Lord 
 Haldane's capital address to the Edinburgh students, 
 November 14th, 1913. Speaking of reverses, great 
 and small , he is reported to have said that there was 
 
only one way of providing against the depressions 
 which they brought in their train, and that was by 
 acquiring the large outlook. The undergraduate 
 might find Himself ' ' ploughed " in an examination , 
 or in debt or in love, or he might suffer from the 
 depression which was deepest when it arose from 
 no external cause. ' If he would escape from the 
 consequent sense of despair he must visualise his 
 feelings and set them in relief by seeking and search- 
 ing out their grounds. They must aim at the largest 
 and widest view of life, and devote their highest 
 energies to attaining it. To some it would come in 
 the form of Christianity ; to others in that of some 
 other high religion, it might be, originating in the 
 East. To others it would come in the shape of 
 philosophy. To yet others art would bring the 
 embodiment of the truth that the ideal and the real, 
 the infinite and the finite did not really exist apart, 
 but were different aspects of a single reality." Speak- 
 ing of the religious outlook, Lord Haldane said we 
 <; now sought God not without but within. The 
 hindrances to spiritual life to-day were moral rather 
 than intellectual. They arose from a lessened readi- 
 ness to accept authority of any kind." 
 
 Now, I humbly submit that it is impossible for 
 any man to attain to a large and wide view of life- 
 life in its greater sense if he is closely bound round 
 by the thongs of dogmatic teaching and is dependent 
 for his very salvation on baptisms and other sacer- 
 dotal ministrations. 
 
 Having been brought up as a Protestant, and hav- 
 ing lived for a great many years in a Roman Catholic 
 
country, I have had excellent opportunities of observ- 
 ing two forms of Christianity, as followed by two of 
 the most important sects in the Christian Church. I 
 have also lived in the East, and am obliged to con- 
 fess that there is far less bitterness and far more 
 charity to be found amongst the Muslims than 
 amongst the Christians in the British Isles. The 
 Muslims, for example, are far more tolerant and 
 well disposed towards every branch of the Christian 
 Church than the branches of that Church are to- 
 wards one another. Sad, but true. 
 
 I venture to say that if a committee of really able 
 Englishmen say, of the type of the late Lord Salis- 
 bury, the late Lord Beaconsfield, Mr. Balfour, Lord 
 Haldane, Sir Rufus Isaacs, etc., etc. were ap- 
 pointed to consider the merits of the world's 
 religions, they would be unanimous in selecting 
 Islam, which appeals to the reason as well as to 
 that natural longing of the heart and soul to be in 
 touch with the Creator. 
 
 We must not lose sight of the fact that our loyal 
 fellow subjects, the Muslims, outnumber all the 
 other religious bodies in the Empire : His Majesty 
 the Emperor of India has no more faithful supporters 
 than the followers of Islam. 
 
 The thought now occurs to me that very possibly 
 Lord Haldane, in the speech above alluded to, may 
 have had the Muslim religion in his mind when 
 he spoke of " some other high religion." But I may 
 be mistaken. 
 
 I make no apology for compiling the few chapters 
 which appear between the covers of this book, nor 
 
10 
 
 am I in the least afraid of the accusations of apos- 
 tasy I shall have to face. I do not believe, and never 
 have believe,!, it essential to my salvation to believe 
 in the Divinity of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, 
 or the Sacraments supposed by the " Church " to be 
 ' generally necessary to salvation." I do believe in 
 the Divine messages God has sent to us by His chosen 
 ones. 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 BY way of introducing the following pages to my 
 readers, I feel I cannot do better than re-print 
 in extenso a short article, from my pen, which 
 appeared in one of the London weeklies in Novem- 
 ber, 1913 : 
 
 In several newspapers notices have appeared com- 
 menting on my religious belief, and it is highly 
 gratifying to me to find that so far all criticism has 
 been of a most kindly nature. It is not to be expected 
 that any decided step can be taken out of the beaten 
 track of every-day custom without attracting atten- 
 tion. 
 
 I am very glad that such is the case. I am fond of 
 my profession, and certain forms of athletics and 
 sport have ever been my hobbies, but there has never 
 been any desire for notoriety or publicity on my 
 part ; but in this case , if my action is the means of 
 making people tolerant and broad-minded , I am quite 
 prepared to put up with every kind of ridicule and 
 abuse. 
 
 The other day a letter reached me from a devout 
 Christian, informing rne that the Mohamedan re- 
 ligion was one of sensuality, and that the Prophet 
 had a great many wives ! What an idea of Islam 1 
 But it is the idea in the mind of ninety-nine out of 
 one hundred Britishers, who will not take the trouble 
 to inquire into the plain facts as to the religious be- 
 liefs of over 100 million of their fellow subjects. The 
 Holy Prophet of Arabia \vas particularly self- 
 restrained and chaste. He was true to his one wife 
 
12 
 
 Khadijah, who was fifteen years older than himself. 
 She was the first to believe in the Divine messages. 
 After her death he married Ayesha. He also married 
 a great many of the widows of those of his adherents 
 who had fallen in battle, not because he had the 
 slightest desire for them, but in order to provide 
 them with a home and give them a position they 
 could not otherwise enjoy. This was quite in keep- 
 ing with his unselfish and noble life. He gave away 
 so much of his worldly belongings that he hardly 
 ever had quite enough to live on. 
 
 We Britishers are wont to pride ourselves on our 
 love for fair play and justice, yet what can be more 
 unfair than condemning, as so many of us do, the 
 Mahomedan faith without first attempting to find 
 out even so much as an outline of its tenets or the 
 meaning of the word Islam? 
 
 It is possible that some of my friends may imagine 
 that I have been influenced by Mahometans ; but 
 this is not the case, for my present convictions are 
 solely the outcome of many years of thought. My 
 actual conversations with educated Muslims on the 
 subject of religion only commenced a few weeks ago, 
 and need I say that I am overjoyed to find that all 
 my theories and conclusions are entirely in accord 
 with Islam? Even my friend Khwaja Kamal-ul- 
 Din has never tried to influence me in the slightest 
 degree. He has been a veritable living concordance, 
 and has patiently explained and translated portions 
 of the Koran which did not appear quite clear to me, 
 and in this respect he showed the true spirit of the 
 Muslim missionary, which is never to force or even 
 persuade. Conversion, according to the Koran, 
 should come out of free choice and spontaneous judg- 
 ment, and never be attained by means of compul- 
 sion. Jesus meant the same thing when He said to 
 His disciples : ' ' And whosoever shall not receive you 
 
13 
 
 nor hear you, when ye depart thence. , . ." (St. 
 Mark vi., -2). 
 
 I have known very many instances of zealous Pro- 
 testants who have " thought it their duty to visit 
 Roman Catholic homes in order to make " converts ' 
 of the inmates. Such irritating and unneighbourly 
 conduct is, of course, very obnoxious, and has in- 
 variably led to much ill-feeling stirring up strife and 
 tending to bring religion into contempt. I am sorry 
 to think that Christian missionaries have also tried 
 these methods with their Muslim brethren, though 
 why they should try to convert those who are already 
 better Christians than they are themselves I am at a 
 loss to conceive. I say * better Christians " ad- 
 visedly, because the charity, tolerance and broad- 
 mindedness in the Muslim faith come nearer to what 
 Christ himself taught than do the somewhat nar- 
 row tenets of the various Christian Churches. 
 
 To take one example the Athanasian Creed, 
 which treats of the Trinity in a very confusing man- 
 ner. In this Creed, which is very important and 
 deals conclusively with one of the fundamental tenets 
 of the " Churches," it is laid down most clearly that 
 it represents the Catholic faith, and that if we do not 
 believe it we shall perish everlastingly. Then we are 
 told that we must, thus think of the Trinity if we 
 want to be saved in other words, that a God we in 
 one breath hail as merciful and almighty in the next 
 breath we accuse of injustice and cruelty which we 
 would not attribute to the most bloodthirsty human 
 tyrant. As if God, Who is before all and above all, 
 would be in any way influenced by what a poor 
 mortal " thinks of the Trinity." 
 
 Here is another instance of want of charity. I 
 received a letter it was apropos of my leaning to- 
 wards Islam in which the writer told me that if I 
 did not believe in the Divinity of Christ I could not 
 
H 
 
 be saved. The question of the Divinity of Christ never 
 seemed to me nearly so important as that other ques- 
 tion, Did He give God's messages to mankind? 
 Now, if I had any doubt about this latter point it 
 would worry me a great deal, but, thank God, I have 
 no doubt, and I hope that my faith in Christ and 
 His inspired teachings is as firm as that of any other 
 Muslim or Christian. As I have often said before, 
 Islam and Christianity as taught by Christ Himself, 
 are sister religions, only held apart by dogmas and 
 technicalities which might very well be dispensed 
 with . 
 
 In the present day men are prone to become 
 atheists when asked to subscribe to dogmatic and in- 
 tolerant beliefs, and there is doubtless a craving for 
 a religion appealing to the intelligence as well as to 
 the sentiments. Who ever heard of a Muslim turn- 
 ing atheist? There may have been cases, but I very 
 much doubt it. 
 
 There are thousands of men and women, too, I 
 believe who are at heart Muslims, but convention, 
 fear of adverse comments, and a desire to avoid any 
 worry or change, conspire to keep them from openly 
 admitting the fact. 1 have taken the step, though I 
 am quite aware that many friends and relations now 
 look upon me as a lost soul and past praying for. 
 And yet I am just the same in my beliefs as I was 
 twenty years ago ; it is the outspoken utterance 
 which has lost me their good opinion. 
 
 Having briefly given some of my reasons for adopt- 
 ing the teachings of Islam, and having explained 
 that I consider myself by that very act a far better 
 Christian than I was before, I can only hope that 
 others will follow the example which I honestly be- 
 lieve is a good one which will bring happiness to 
 anyone looking upon the step as one in advance 
 rather than one in any way hostile to true Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 THE PEACE OF ISLAM. 
 
 IF we fail to recognize that God can suspend or alter 
 any of the Laws He has established we cannot be- 
 lieve in His omnipotence, and we must at once place 
 all the miraculous happenings we have read of in 
 the Bible under the heading of Fairy Tales. Walk- 
 ing on the water, raising the dead, giving sight to 
 the blind, feeding a multitude with a few loaves and 
 fishes, and many other equally supernatural events, 
 firmly believed in by all good Christians, could not 
 have taken place but for a suspension of the ordinary 
 laws of Nature. When the children of Israel passed 
 dry-shod on the sea bed, when Moses performed 
 other miracles, when Christ) followed with His 
 miracles, and when Mahomet was miraculously car- 
 ried to Heaven, and when other wonders were per- 
 formed, the Hand of God was there in each and 
 every case directing and guiding. If He wished, He 
 could stay the movements of the earth and all the 
 planets round the sun, and that without any of the 
 disasters learned men assure us would ensue on the 
 slightest checking of the annual or diurnal move- 
 ments. 
 
 Of the universal law of gravitation it has been 
 truly said : 
 
 ' That very law which moulds a tear and bids it 
 trickle from its source 
 
 ' That law maintains the Earth a sphere, and guides 
 the planets in their course." 
 
i6 
 
 But as God made all the solar system and estab- 
 lished the law, so He can arrange matter and the 
 laws governing that matter in such a way that no 
 disastrous results follow on any new arrangements 
 He may select. 
 
 There is a story told of a very devout old lady 
 a most earnest and zealous Christian whose feel- 
 ings had been very much harrowed by a clergyman's 
 description of the sufferings of Christ and His fol- 
 lowers exclaiming, " Ah, well, it's a long time ago ; 
 let us hope it is not true." This is just the point. 
 For many hundreds of years there have been no 
 miracles, and men's minds have become used to 
 ordinary ' very-day happenings, but if suddenly a 
 Divine Message were revealed they would be so 
 much surprised and upset that they would refuse to 
 give any credit to the manifestations, and would 
 probably try to make away with the medium as an 
 uncanny and dangerous person. 
 
 In this fast moving age religion is looked upon as 
 rather a bore, and men are either atheists or blind 
 followers of dogmatic lines of thought which their 
 reason rebels against, but which they outwardly 
 profess because they think it looks well and they 
 find it pays. One of the best men I ever knew 
 an excellent husband and father assured me he was 
 an atheist, and that he looked forward to nothing 
 but annihilation. Yet he was perfectly happy, and 
 nothing I could advance had the slightest effect in 
 making him change his terrible belief. Another 
 man I heard of took religion in quite a cheerful 
 spirit. He was very rich, and a friend once remon- 
 strated with him on his rather free mode of life, 
 and asked him if he ever thought of the future state, 
 and what would become of his soul in the next 
 world. He replied, " Not I. Why should I worry 
 about such things? I pay my doctor so much a year 
 
17 
 
 to attend to my physical health, and the priest gets 
 about 600 a year for looking after my spiritual 
 wants. Why should I bother my head? ' This 
 man, too, \vas quite happy in his own way, and had 
 reconciled himself to the payment of a certain 
 annual sum, for which he was relieved of 
 all "bother." 
 
 So much has been written, thought, and spoken 
 for ages past on the all-absorbing and all-important 
 subject of religion, that it may well be that there is 
 nothing fresh to be advanced from any human 
 quarter. That there is good in all religions must be 
 admitted, as also that some forms are better than 
 others. 
 
 If it were only possible to get a sound ;< non- 
 professional " opinion in the selection of our religion 
 it would be a grand step in the right direction. If 
 we go to the priests or monks, or others, who make 
 it their business to supply a particular kind of article 
 of which they approve, we cannot get much assist- 
 ance because the various tenets or dogmas are so 
 diametrically opposed to one another. 
 
 Take the Christian Church alone we shall have 
 such bewilderingly different directions to Heaven 
 from the Church of England, the Church of Rome, 
 and the Nonconformists, that \ve shall gain nothing 
 at all. What we want is the assistance of some 
 outside and unbiassed onlooker who has had oppor- 
 tunities for contemplation, and who has nothing 
 whatever to gain by an openly expressed and honest 
 opinion. 
 
 What we really want is a religion which will 
 recognise and support the laws of the country. In 
 these days the law is constantly brought into ridi- 
 cule : there is abroad an unhealthy and maudlin 
 sympathy with nearly every form of wrong-doing 
 
i8 
 
 and crime. A just sentence has but to be pro- 
 nounced and it will call forth shrieks from the 
 sentimentalists for remission or reprieve. Let there 
 be full justice in religion ; as it is, the backbone of 
 the country is being softened by this soppy senti- 
 mentalism, which is not by any means humane or 
 likely to improve the character of the nation. 
 ' Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill," 
 applies to all this sympathy with wrong-doing, and 
 though we may feel the deepest sorrow for the 
 criminal whose bringing up and miserable environ- 
 ment have led up to the trouble , we must punish in 
 order to deter others and prevent repetitions. It is 
 often the most cruel action to ' ' turn the other 
 cheek" cruel because it encourages the evil-doer 
 in his course of crime, and other members of society 
 suffer through our misplaced kindness. Unless I 
 am much mistaken the milk-and-water justice we 
 often see dispensed in the present day in this 
 country is responsible for half the evils we so bitterly 
 complain of. It would be far better to go back to 
 the old "Lex talionis " than go on as we are now 
 doing. 
 
 We cannot quite look upon Christ as a Law-giver. 
 He presented to the world gentle and beautiful pre- 
 cepts, but the Devil, as he walks abroad to-day, will 
 not be put down by soft answers and turnings of the 
 other cheek : nothing short of the strongest 
 measures should be used with all emissaries of the 
 evil one. Moses was a law-giver, and Mahomet 
 was a law-giver, and we now need something of the 
 firmness and absolute justice of the Holy Prophet 
 stern but altogether free from the savagery of Old 
 Testament vengeance. Successions of party Gov- 
 ernments, playing for power rather than to the good 
 of the nation, have brought us to such a pass that 
 we cannot even look after and keep in order our 
 
19 
 
 own women folk ! A truly shocking state of affairs 
 for descendants of the Vikings and citizens of the 
 grandest Empire the world has ever seen. 
 
 The laws we have are good enough if they were 
 only enforced. Truckling to vice only leads to fur- 
 ther vice. We don't want any return to the methods 
 of torture or of any form of cruelty, nor would we 
 shed one drop of blood to enforce our views on 
 religion or politics, but we should like to see the 
 laws obeyed and justice meted out to all. I firmly 
 believe that if the teachings of Mahomet through 
 the Koran were carefully followed there would be 
 far less difficulty in governing the country, and it 
 would not be very strange either, since more than 
 half His Majesty's subjects in his vast Empire are 
 Mahomedans. The age has altogether passed when 
 it will be sought to establish any religion by force 
 of arms and, even if they had the pow r er to do so, 
 I am certain that the Muslims w r ho are all loyally 
 inclined would never attempt to establish Islam by 
 any violent methods. Sedition and rebellion are 
 absolutely forbidden by the Koran. " Let there be 
 no violence in religion " is one of the maxims of the 
 Muslim faith. 
 
 To secure attention and fair hearing is all the 
 Mahomedans want; and I feel certain that, if the 
 people of England fully grasped what Islam really 
 means common sense, and the natural desire we 
 all possess to have appeals made to' our reasoning 
 side, as well as to our feelings would help to put 
 away the shameful misunderstandings which 
 at present exist. Europeans very commonly look 
 upon Mahomedanism as barbarism when they 
 learn all that Mahomet did to mitigate the savagery 
 and barbarism he met with in Arabia they w r ill alter 
 those opinions. It is the Christian missionaries who 
 have spared no pains to misinterpret the Muslim 
 
20 
 
 faith : this is greatly to their discredit, though accord- 
 ing to their lights they may mean well, and it has 
 often occurred to me that if they would talk a little 
 less about salvation and a little more about the im- 
 portance of veracity, they would meet with more 
 favour and be more respected. What a contrast is 
 there between this wilful suppressio rcri and the 
 manner in which the Muslim missionary approaches 
 his work ! 
 
 The Governments of this country have often been 
 sadly harassed by having to accede to the demands of 
 religious bodies. The Church of England, the 
 Eoman Catholic Church, the Nonconformists, and 
 many others, all have to be considered, for they 
 all have power, and all want more. 
 
 There is, as far as one can see, no class in the 
 Mahomedan religion or Church which bids for the 
 temporal power. The grandeur of Islam is un- 
 influenced by any such sordid considerations. Every 
 true follower of the Holy Prophet looks to a reward 
 which is as far above mere mundane advantages and 
 riches as the light of the sun is above that of the 
 ignis fatitus. There are no popes, no bishops, and 
 no ministers requiring large endowments and emolu- 
 ments, for God Himself is the Head of this Church 
 of the Spirit. History tells us of Christian Churches 
 making heavy bids for the temporal power, and wo 
 can point to the sale of indulgences and the not 
 always impartial distribution of fat livings to show 
 how terribly matters which should only be con- 
 nected with the highest aspirations of the soul have 
 been mixed up with sordid considerations of purely 
 worldly profit. It is not going too far to say that the 
 vast majority of so-called Christians regard 
 
 'religion" as a good, respectable, Sunday institu- 
 tion,- which offers exceptional opportunities for show- 
 ing off their best clothes and talking about their 
 
21 
 
 neighbours. This curious religion is also going to- 
 take them to some heaven the position in that 
 heaven depending in many cases on the amount 
 paid, just as certain coins admit to the boxes and 
 stalls, and others to the pit and gallery of a theatre. 
 Much of the religion of the West is the outcome of 
 the superstitions of mediaeval times a relic, indeed,, 
 of the Dark Ages, and not much in sympathy with 
 the teachings of Moses or Christ. In those cloudy 
 and troublesome times say between the third and 
 fifth centuries and later when Europe was the vast 
 arena over which hordes of wild and warlike races 
 vied with each other and spread terror and desola- 
 tion on all sides, the great rulers of States, like the 
 warlike barons or lords in England, were often men 
 more conspicuous for their prowess with sword or 
 battle-axe, wielded in defence of their estates, their 
 hearths and homes, than they were for any book 
 learning and culture. In order to keep things going 
 at home they had to employ clerks or clerics, who 
 were able, by means of their superior learning, to 
 maintain a sort of stewardship over the establish- 
 ments, to keep records of current events, &c., &c. 
 These clerics in time became necessary adjuncts to 
 large establishments, and exercised great power, and 
 had great influence. Opportunities then often 
 occurred for increasing this influence by using the 
 mysteries of the unknown as a fulcrum against 
 which to place those astonishingly long levers dread 
 of hell and terrors of future punishment. Skilful 
 handling of these terrors produced in the minds of 
 the credulous a feeling not far removed from panic, 
 which was, however, soothed and smoothed down by 
 the assurance that, on embracing a certain form of 
 religion and swallowing some craftily evolved 
 dogmas, salvation might be gained. But it was 
 somehow contrived that absolute security as regards 
 
22 
 
 a safe and high place in the next world could not be 
 obtained unless by very handsome gifts to 'the 
 Church," and these gifts took the form of large 
 grants of land, palaces, cathedrals, and rich endow- 
 ments. Here \ve saw the birth of sacerdotalism, and 
 the determined bids for temporal authority have 
 been very noticeable ever since, and right up to the 
 present date. The advent of Mahomet, some six 
 hundred years after Christ, exposed the unreality of 
 all such ideas as atonements, priestly interventions, 
 supplications to the saints, and those other cumber- 
 some and involved methods of approaching the 
 Almighty. However grand the Mosaic laws, how- 
 ever beautiful the gentle and forgiving precepts of 
 the Holy Prophet of Nazareth, it must be admitted 
 that the Mahomedan teaching contained the most 
 sublime message, over-riding by its very simplicity 
 all obstacles in the way of the believer on his path to 
 God. 
 
 In Chapter IX. of the Koran lines occur which 
 leave no doubt as to their meaning and applicability 
 to all who are under sacerdotal domination and insist 
 on taking human beings for their guides. 
 
 ' They take their priests and their monks for their 
 lords, besides God, and Christ the son of Mary,* 
 although they are commanded to worship one God 
 only : there is no God but He ; far be that from Him 
 which they associate with Him." . . . . ( true 
 believers, verily many of the priests and monks 
 devour the substance of men in vanity, and obstruct 
 the way of God." [The italic is the writer's.] 
 
 The religion of Christ is not quite the religion of 
 St. Paul, w r ho seems to have added to it and altered 
 
 * Jesus said to the young man who asked what he could do 
 to inherit eternal life: "Why callest thou me good? There is 
 none good but one, that is God." 
 
23 
 
 it very considerably, arid various authorities have 
 interpreted these later teachings . and varied them 
 from time to time. There is, in fact, not much 
 uniformity in so-called Christianity, but we find in 
 Islam that which should satisfy the longings of the 
 created to be at one with and return to the Creator 
 -the ever present and omnipotent protector of all 
 creatures. According to Islam there is only one 
 God we may worship and follow. He is before all, 
 above all, and no other, however holy and pure, 
 may be named in the same breath. Indeed, "it is 
 surprising that human beings with brains and in- 
 telligence should have been so foolish as to allow 
 dogmas and the tricks of sacerdotalism to obscure 
 their view of Heaven and their Almighty Father, 
 Who is always approachable by each one of His 
 creatures, whether human or saintly (i.e.. Divinely 
 inspired). The key to heaven is always there, and 
 can be turned by the humblest or most miserable 
 human being without any help from prophet, priest, 
 or king. It is like the blessed air we breathe, free 
 to all God's creatures, and those who try to make 
 mankind think otherwise are probably guided by 
 interested motives, e.g., salaries and stipends, which 
 keep professions going, or some other worldly advan- 
 tages, "t 
 
 My chief object is not so much to attack any par- 
 ticular branch of the Christian religion as to point 
 out the beauty and simplicity of the Muslim faith, 
 which, in the writer's humble opinion, is free from 
 the objections so apparent in many other religions. 
 Granting, for the sake of argument, that Islam is 
 free from sacerdotalism with its attendant dogmas 
 and greed for power, we must concede that the 
 
 t "Thoughts for the Future." By A. W. (Walter Scott Pub- 
 lishing Co. 3 Ltd., Felling-on-Tyne, Durham.) 
 
24 
 
 government of a nation or empire would go on more 
 smoothly if such a peaceful religion were universally 
 adopted. It seems impossible even to imagine the 
 government of, say, the British Empire under such 
 conditions, though 'tis "a consummation devoutly 
 to be wished/' 
 
 It is indeed, a much to be deplored fact that 
 'religion' 1 has been responsible for more bitter- 
 ness, cruelty, and shedding of blood than any other 
 cause we know of. Is it possible, then, that a 
 religion can be found which can ever bring all man- 
 kind to be unanimous in the simple worship of the 
 One God w T ho is above all and before all? Imagine 
 for a moment if everyone in the British Empire be- 
 came a true Mahomedan in heart and spirit an 
 Utopian idea, indeed ! Government w r ould be much 
 easier, because men would be actuated by true 
 religion and there w T ould be no Church parties to con- 
 sider, no dissenters to conciliate, and no heavy bills 
 to pay the tolls on the path to heaven. There is 
 some simplicity in religion as taught by Moses, 
 Christ, and Mahomet, but the confusion which has 
 been brought about by others who have tried to im- 
 prove on God's Holy Revelations is inextricable and 
 hopelessly bewildering to the single minded and 
 earnest inquirer for truth. 
 
 One form of religion incited the Crusades, in which 
 our ancestors sacrificed tens of thousands of human 
 lives for w r hat? An unseemly quarrel over a 
 sepulchre in wiiich it is believed Christ laid for a 
 short time. Was it worth while? Another form 
 of religion taught us to burn alive and otherwise tor- 
 ture those who did not agree with us on quite minor 
 points of religion. Was it w r orth while ? Another very 
 common form is that of those wliose intolerance is so 
 great that they consign all their fellow-creatures to 
 everlasting perdition if they will not sw r allow certain 
 
25 
 
 dogmatic ideas. Is it worth while? Is it desirable 
 to show a want of charity which must be hateful to 
 the God of Mercy, and which either Christ or 
 Mahomet would condemn in no measured terms? 
 General Gordon said : " I do not see the sect 
 of Pharisees among the Mussulmans. What- 
 ever they may think they never assume, as our 
 Pharisees do, that A and B are doomed to be burned ; 
 and you never see the unamiable features which are 
 shown by our Pharisees." Gordon had lived long 
 amongst the Mahomedans in the East and the beau- 
 ties of Islamic teachings had not escaped his notice, 
 and there seems to be no doubt that in writing the 
 above he truly felt that there was more real Chris- 
 tian charity in Islam than there was at home. In 
 much the same spirit, he wrote : ' No comfort is 
 equal to that which he has who has God for his 
 stay, who believes not in words but in facts, that all 
 things are ordained to happen and must happen. He 
 who has this belief has already died, and is free 
 from the annoyance of this life." 
 
 In reply to the above it will probably be advanced 
 that Eastern ideas do not blend with Western ideas, 
 and there can be no " fusion," so to speak, and that 
 to attempt to govern the nations of the West whilst 
 an Eastern religion was recognised and influenced 
 men's minds and actions would be quite incongruous 
 and out of the question . Well, in reply, tfhe writer 
 wishes to point out that for nearly two thousand 
 years every country in Europe has been governed 
 under the religions of the East i.e., Jewish and 
 Christian. 
 
 The spirit of Islam soars far above petty jealousies 
 and the racial distractions of East and West, and if 
 Eastern Christianity led by the great Prophet of 
 Nazareth has gone so far towards enlightening man- 
 kind, there seems to be no valid reason why the 
 
26 
 
 more extended and simpler Islamic faith expounded 
 by the great Prophet of Arabia should not continue 
 the good work. There is a great similarity between 
 the characters of the leaders as anyone will find out 
 on inquiring into Mahomet's life. Also a study of 
 the Koran will reveal the fact that there is nothing 
 antagonistic to previous revelations Mahomet's 
 instructions, as laid down in the book, completely 
 back up the Bible teachings, extending them to suit 
 the requirements of the time. On the principle that 
 it is unfair to condemn a man unheard, so it is un- 
 fair to do what 99 out of every 100 Christians do 
 i.e., condemn the Mahomedan faith without even 
 finding out the meaning of the word Islam. The 
 Jaisser faire principle is often applied by those who 
 do not want to be enlightened ; being enlightened 
 means being worried, and they would rather remain 
 in darkness than stretch out a hand to open the door 
 letting in light. " What I've got is good enough for 
 me, I don't want to look at anything else," they say 
 in effect, thus refusing to make an effort to advance 
 even in the knowledge of God and His messages to 
 mankind. 
 
 For years past one of my chief thoughts has been 
 how can the Muslim faith be " Westernised " so as 
 to bring it into practical touch with the nations of 
 Europe? Or, in other words, How can we Westerns 
 apply ourselves so as to gain a better comprehension 
 of what Islam really means ? Then followed a second 
 thought : How is it that we do not complain about 
 the nationality of Christ , Who we must believe was 
 a swarthy Asiatic? His mother, the Virgin Mary, 
 was an Asiatic, and Moses and nearly all the in- 
 spired Prophets were Easterns. The Holy Prophet 
 Mahomet was, like the others, an Eastern, and was 
 given his instructions from on high : the Holy Koran 
 contains the Word of God like the Bible and other 
 
27 
 
 inspired works, and confirms the Bible and previous 
 revelations. The Koran gives additional teachings, 
 emphasising the importance of those teachings, and 
 above all insists on the abandonment of all that 
 savours of idolatry; the SPIRIT of the revelation 
 being that no other name should be even mentioned 
 along with the holy name of Allah our All-Mighty 
 Father the All-Seeing, the All-Merciful. 
 
 " Then Mahomet, Thy chosen son,* 
 
 Inspired by fire Divine, 
 Laid down the law, the greatest one, 
 Which must for ever shine. 
 
 That Thou alone most merciful, 
 
 Our Father dear dost reign, 
 And that we must all time throughout 
 
 From other gods refrain. 
 
 No other must approach to Thee , 
 
 How T ever great and pure, 
 No savour of idolatry 
 
 Can Thy dear heart endure. 
 
 Thy ways are not our ways, God, 
 
 Tho' near Thy mercy seat 
 Are many souls of purity 
 
 Thy loving eye to greet." 
 
 The spirit of praise is the essence of the Muslim 
 creed the main supplication is for Divine direction 
 and guidance. Though my gratitude for God's 
 favours and loving'care has been profound from my 
 
 * The word son is not here used as the Christians use it 
 when alluding to Christ. Mahomet claimed Divine inspiration, 
 but never claimed Divinity. He was a man and, as such, a son 
 of God God's creation. 
 
28 
 
 earliest youth, I cannot help observing that withio 
 the past few years, since the pure and convincing 
 faith of the Muslims has become a reality in my 
 heart and mind, I have found happiness and security 
 never approached before. Freedom from the weird 
 dogmas of the various branches of Christian 
 Churches came to me like a breath of pure sea air, 
 and on realizing the simplicity, as well as the illum- 
 inating splendour, of Islam, I was as a man emerg- 
 ing from a cloudy tunnel into the light of day. 
 
 1 'For Moses, Christ, and Mahomet 
 
 Did each Thy love proclaim, 
 And we must not their words forget, 
 Or judge them not the same : 
 
 For though their words have twisted been 
 
 By those who Thee profess. 
 Their revelations can be seen 
 
 In simple blessedness. 
 
 Of human birth they all proclaim, 
 
 In happy language clear. 
 Thy one eternal glorious name, 
 
 Which is to us so dear. 
 
 Contention should not rise between 
 
 The followers of these, 
 The greatest prophets ever seen 
 
 Who lived but Thee to please. 
 
 They gave in all humility 
 
 Thy messages of love, 9 
 That all mankind might clearly see, 
 
 Nor from Thy precepts rove.'* 
 
 The above quoted simple lines were written many 
 years ago by one who was always at heart a follower 
 
2 9 
 
 of Mahomet, though at the time of writing he was 
 almost entirely ignorant of the main features of 
 Islam. 
 
 Having definitely decided that no comfort could 
 possibly be obtained from dogmatic teaching, the 
 thought came to me that God certainly watches and 
 controls every desire and every action. He has 
 always done so, no doubt, but the teaching gleaned 
 from the pages of the Koran have enabled rne to 
 grasp that wonderfully comforting thought in a way 
 previously impossible. If every move in life is 
 directed by the Almighty there may be true comfort 
 for those who are not only sore let and hindered in 
 running the race of life, but are heavily weighed 
 down by sorrow for their many foolish and evil 
 actions. All such may have hope that God will 
 in His infinite wisdom and goodness use them as 
 an example for others, showing them what to avoid. 
 It is a rather terrible thought, but the true believer 
 will face any trial, any disgrace, or any degradation 
 in God's service. His ways are not our ways. The 
 spirit of Islam points to salvation for the unfortu- 
 nate, the unhappy, and the wicked when there 
 appears repentance, and obedience, and resignation, 
 and desire to assist our fellow-creatures to the 
 greatest possible extent. Even through the greatest 
 suffering we should feel happy in having been 
 allowed to be the instruments to carry out Divine 
 instfuctions. 
 
 Bigotry and fanaticism have wrought havoc in the 
 contending Christian Churches, but this cannot be 
 said of Mahomedanism, which is an united 
 church, save only for some minor disputes as to the 
 descendants of Mahomet. How much better, then, 
 would it be if we in the West made up our minds to 
 abandon the complicated forms of religion at present 
 obtaining, and to adopt Islam? 
 
30 
 
 Some years ago the rulers of a very enlightened 
 nation in the Far East had serious doubts as to 
 whether their form of religion was the right one or 
 not, so they appointed certain wise men to examine 
 all the leading religions of the world and report 
 thereon. The wise men deliberated and came to the 
 conclusion that their own religion was as good as 
 any of the others, and they therefore declined to 
 advise any changes. Following up this idea I firmly 
 believe that if all the best intellects of Europe could 
 be brought into play in a search for a religion which 
 should be based on worldly reason or common sense, 
 no less than on the inspired writings of Divinely 
 inspired prophets, the unanimous selection would be 
 in favour of Islam, the simplicity and grandeur of 
 which is quite without question. Is it not a bless- 
 ing to be very grateful for to have the chance of 
 embracing a religion w r hich appeals to the reason as 
 w r ell as to the heart and nrward longings of man- 
 kind, and is at the same time free from sacerdo- 
 talism and other complications? 
 
 There are those at present living on this earth, 
 both in the East and in the West, to whom revela- 
 tions establishing the truth of Islamic teaching have 
 been made in the clearest manner, and it is possible 
 that the time may not be far distant when God will 
 allow these revelations to be made clear to all His 
 children on earth ; but this is a matter for Divine 
 guidance, for no man knows the appointed time of 
 God. 
 
 In an age of scepticism like the present, if one of 
 the divinely inspired Prophets were to now re-appear 
 in the person of any ordinary individual and repeat 
 the statements or utter truths at all similar to those 
 he uttered when on earth hundreds of years ago, he 
 would be immediately regarded as insane, and be 
 either imprisoned or placed in an asylum. 
 
The many ' ' Churches ' : of Christianity are so 
 much at variance one with the other, and their 
 * ' Divines ' ' have made such an inextricable 
 tangle of Christian teaching, and the dogmas are so 
 hopelessly bewildering, that the clear reasoning 
 mind and open ingenuous heart of man both crave 
 for a religion which is tangible and convincing, as 
 well as simple. 
 
 " The dogmas of the Christian Church I care 
 not w r hether Roman Catholic or Protestant have 
 repelled me ever since earliest childhood, and I do not 
 know whether my boyish distrust of the Creed as 
 laid down by St. Athanasius was less strong than is 
 my contempt to-day for the man who lays down the 
 law from a pulpit and consigns millions of his fellow- 
 men to everlasting perdition because they do not 
 agree with him. It has always seemed to me very 
 remarkable that educated gentlemen should be 
 found who, in order to get into the Church, will 
 cheerfully subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles and 
 that horrible Creed, well knowing in their hearts 
 that they do not and cannot believe one half they 
 put theirnames to. After forty years of thought and 
 prayerful effort to arrive at a correct view, the dom- 
 inant idea in my mind is that the whole fabric of so- 
 called religion is of man and not of God. I must 
 also confess that visits to the East have filled me 
 with a very deep respect for the simple faith of the 
 Mahomedans, who really do worship God all the 
 time, and not only on Sunday, like so many 
 Christians." 
 
 The above extract from a little book entitled 
 " Thoughts for the Future "* probably finds an echo 
 
 * "Thoughts for the Future." By " A. W." (Walter Scott 
 Publishing Co., Felling-on-Tyne, Durham, 1913.) 
 
32 
 
 in the more inward feelings of many who consider 
 the question of religion and the future state. 
 
 Islam is the religion of grand simplicity ; it satis- 
 fies the noblest longings of the soul, and in no w r ay 
 contravenes the teachings of Moses or Christ. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 WOMAN'S POSITION IN ISLAM. 
 
 I HAVE pleasure in now reproducing a very able 
 letter from Her Highness the Begum of Bhopal, 
 which appeared in the January issue of - the 
 "Islamic Be view." This letter was written by 
 Her Highness to Miss de Selincourt, Head Mistress 
 of Girls' High School, Allahabad : 
 
 'DEAR MADAM, I have to thank you for your 
 kind letter of August 20, and the papers you have 
 enclosed with it. I have studied these papers with 
 great interest. We certainly owe a heavy debt of 
 gratitude to all those able and noble-spirited ladies 
 of Europe who are so enthusiastically working for 
 the schemes which have the amelioration of the con- 
 dition of their Eastern sisters for their object. I 
 sincerely wish that these highly-commendable efforts 
 will be crowned with unqualified success, which they 
 so richly deserve. I am sorry that my engrossment 
 with the affairs of State did not allow of my writing 
 to you fully by the last mail. After a careful perusal 
 of the papers I have received from you , I now ven- 
 ture to send you rny thoughts on this subject in the 
 hope that you would kindly lay them before the 
 members of the committee for their consideration. 
 
 ' Before I proceed to express an opinion on this 
 subject, I should like to tell you and other promoters 
 of the scheme that the views which Miss Bichard- 
 on has expressed about the status of women in Islam 
 are not at all based on a sound and thorough know- 
 ledge of our religion and society. Mahomedanism 
 seems to her on principle to create and conserve a 
 
34 
 
 deeper degradation for women and therefore for 
 society than any other great religious system, and 
 she does not wonder that many of Mahomedan 
 women grow to be 'deceitful, malicious, degraded, 
 wicked.' I cannot but think that such a wholesale 
 condemnation of Muslim women is most unjustifi- 
 able. I am by religion a Mahomedan, and am 
 rather w r ell acquainted with the principles of my 
 faith ; and I know that Islam has laid down no pre- 
 cept, no formula, 110 obligation which could render 
 the position of the tender sex in any way deroga- 
 tory. On the contrary, the Mahomedan religion has 
 accorded a just and fair position to women to which 
 they are in every way entitled. Islam not only 
 lifted up womankind from the depths of degradation 
 to which it had sunk in pre-Islamic days, but it also 
 granted women a distinct legal status to which no 
 religion in the world can afford a parallel. Islam 
 disallowed the cruel treatment meted out to women 
 before the advent of the Great Prophet, who en- 
 joined his followers to treat the female sex with 
 respect. And does not the Koran say, ' Woman is 
 the ornament of man, and man that of woman'? 
 The Prophet's teaching established perfect equality 
 of the sexes, and I can say without the slightest 
 fear of contradiction that Islam has laid down the 
 best possible rules for the intellectual and social 
 advancement of women. It enjoins the highest con- 
 sideration and respect for women, and I wish the 
 women of Europe knew Arabic and could study the 
 Koran at first hand a study that would dispel many 
 misunderstandings. Mahomedan writers and un- 
 biassed European scholars have discussed this ques- 
 tion very ably, and a perusal of their writings is 
 bound to lead one to the conclusion that Islam has 
 done for women what no other religion has done. 
 As a matter of fact, all the incorrect accusations 
 
35 
 
 against our religion that have obtained currency are 
 due to colossal ignorance of the teachings of the Holy 
 Prophet (hallowed be his name!). The history of 
 Islam is full of innumerable instances of the high 
 culture and refinement to which Mahomedan women, 
 attained under no other encouragement than that of 
 their holy faith. These women are well-versed in 
 law, theology, and fine arts, and have left behind 
 them such noble records of acts of righteousness and 
 bravery as are not to be found in the history of 
 every other nation. They read impressive sermons 
 from the pulpit ; they gave lectures on theology in 
 the college halls ; in the politics of the country they 
 played a prominent part ; and without resorting to- 
 the tactics of militant suffragettes they influenced 
 the administration and the public policy of the 
 country for good by words of sound advice. On the 
 field of battle Muslim women have nursed the sick 
 and the wounded, have encouraged soldiers to up- 
 hold their nation's honour, and you may be aware 
 that they have gallantly fought in many an action 
 side by side with men. 
 
 ' Such were the qualities which the Muslim women 
 developed shortly after the appearance of him who 
 is not yet fully known to our Western sisters. We 
 are all exceedingly grateful to you for your sincere 
 sympathy for us, but we also beg of you not to 
 prescribe remedies for the present circumstances of 
 deterioration and decay while you have not yet 
 studied the ethics of our religion, and are even 
 ignorant of the fundamental principles of our faith. 
 It may be that Muslim women have in some places 
 sunk to the IOW T depths described by Miss Richard- 
 son, but it is the majority that counts, and it is the 
 real religion which will eventually prove our salva- 
 tion, and not the kind of religion that is probably 
 followed in some quarters known to Miss Richard- 
 
36 
 
 son. The bad habits which, according to Miss 
 Richardson, some Muslim women have acquired, are 
 the result of national degeneration and decay. When 
 a nation is on the downward path deterioration is 
 bound to set in in some quarters, and the injunctions 
 of religion are apt to be neglected. But it is the 
 real religion that has Divine recommendation and 
 powerful force for all real Mussalmans. I cannot do 
 better than request my Western sisters to study the 
 Koran itself the fountain-head of our faith and 
 the writings of eminent Mussalman writers on this 
 lubject. 
 
 " Chivalry, to the best of my knowledge, came to 
 Europe from the East, and every writer on the his- 
 tory of the Middle Ages has said so. That our 
 Western sisters should now think of the Oriental 
 idea of womanhood so contemptuously is to me 
 nothing but a bitter irony of fate. 
 
 ' ' I now turn to the real object of my addressing this 
 letter to you. While considering over the question 
 of female education in India, we should first of all 
 take stock of the efforts that have hitherto been made 
 in this connection. We should remember that the 
 duty of promoting the progress of education has 
 always been performed efficiently and well by the 
 Government of this country. The Government has 
 established universities at all important centres ; 
 but it is men who have chiefly benefited by these 
 universities, while women have remained in the 
 background. Under the Mahomedan rulers of India 
 the girls of good families were educated privately 
 under the care of the elderly ladies of the household, 
 and this arrangement had very good results and 
 suited those times. The times have changed, and 
 now the girls need to be educated in very large num- 
 bers. The question of female education has now be- 
 come one of very great importance, and earnest and 
 
37 
 
 systematic endeavours will have to be made to estab- 
 lish an extensive system in India for this purpose. 
 To my mind a slavish imitation of Western institu- 
 tions would not be conducive to our best interests. 
 In Oriental countries the education of women should 
 be conducted on a different principle to that of the 
 West, for here the parda system imposes certain 
 limitations. 
 
 ' To attain to the best ideal of education in this 
 respect, the first and foremost thing is to prescribe a 
 good course of study, while suitable text books should 
 be compiled in Indian languages. Training colleges 
 should be opened in central places where women 
 teachers would be trained. Scholarships should be 
 given for this purpose, and women of respectable 
 families encouraged to qualify themselves for this 
 profession. In my opinion, the system of examina- 
 tions as followed in Indian universities will not have 
 the happiest of results in the case of girl students. 
 The girls' schools that I have established in Bhopal 
 are doing good work, and there is never any diffi- 
 culty in getting girls of good families to attend the 
 schools regularly. A girls' school is working very 
 satisfactorily at Aligarh also, and there are many 
 more girls' schools and colleges in India where parda 
 arrangements are made and suitable education given. 
 The most important thing is to keep parda require- 
 ments in view, and I hope that our Western sisters 
 will not lose sight of this great necessity. 
 
 "Believe me, dear Madam, that I am second to 
 none in my keenness for the progress of education in 
 India, and whatever help I can render in this con- 
 nection will always be cheerfully given. 
 
 ' Wishing you every success in the great task that 
 you have set yourself. Believe me, yours sincerely, 
 
 " (Signed) SULTAN JAHAN OF BHOPAL." 
 
38 
 
 No right-minded person reading this excellent 
 letter will fail to recognise Her Highness 's strength 
 of character and power of expressing her meaning 
 clearly and emphatically, and every true-hearted 
 man and woman will wish her success in her noble 
 efforts to improve the position and education of her 
 own sex in India. 
 
 In England, through the misrepresentations of 
 those whose education should teach them at least to 
 be truthful and accurate, the position of Mahome- 
 dan women is looked upon as degraded in this world, 
 and hopeless as far as the next world is concerned. 
 I have lived a long time in the East, and number 
 among my friends many Mahomedans for whom I 
 have a great affection and respect, and never heard 
 of a Mahomedan ill-treating his wife. There may 
 be such cases among the very low classes, but I have 
 never come across them myself. The true Muslim 
 regards his women folk as sacred, and he spares no 
 pains to make them happy and comfortable. Some 
 years ago I wrote the following lines in praise of a 
 really good woman, and I am sure that most Mus- 
 lims will agree with the sentiment when they think 
 of their mothers and their wives : 
 
 A GOOD WOMAN. 
 
 Sweet offering of our Maker's care, 
 To crown my life thou didst appear 
 And give me joy untold : 
 
 A ray divine 
 
 Of sweet sunshine 
 Turned all life's dross to gold. 
 
 To fill an aching void thou gav'st 
 A treasured promise and thou mad'st 
 My soul to dance with joy : 
 
39 
 
 In thy dear eyes 
 A glad surprise 
 Shone pure, without alloy. 
 
 From sad thoughts of a chequered past 
 We'll turn for ever, and at last 
 Open the sacred page 
 Where, written there, 
 The promise fair 
 Stands true from age to age. 
 
 Thus happy in our children, love, 
 We'll ever look to God above 
 And bless His Holy Name : 
 No thoughts of fears, 
 No trace of tears, 
 Shall mar our happiness. 
 
 Dear Father, from Thy children now, 
 Accept the noblest human vow 
 That they will work for Thee : 
 Thy love adore, 
 Thy gifts explore, 
 Through all eternity. 
 
 The whole teaching of the Koran is opposed to 
 idolatry in any shape or form, and therefore men are 
 admonished not to marry idolatresses or allow their 
 daughters to marry idolaters. There is so much 
 idolatry in certain of the Churches at the present 
 time, and it would be well if the teachings of our 
 Holy Prophet (blessed be his memory !) were more 
 widely disseminated. We Mahomedans are guided 
 and helped through life by our Book the Holy 
 Koran : 
 
 1 ' Mankind was but one people ; and God sent 
 
 prophets to announce glad tidings and to warn ; 
 
 and He sent down with them the Book of 
 
40 
 
 Truth, that it might decide the disputes of men ; 
 and none disputed but those to whom the Book 
 had been given, after the clear tokens had 
 reached them being full of mutual jealousy. 
 And God guided those who believed to the truth 
 of that about which, by His permission, they 
 had disputed ; for God guideth whom He 
 pleaseth into the straight path." 
 
 Wherever women are alluded to in the Koran the 
 greatest respect and reverence is enjoined love for 
 the mother being almost taken for granted, and 
 kindness and affectionate care of the wife being 
 insisted upon with the strongest emphasis. 
 
 The following passages occur in that chapter of 
 the Koran entitled "Women" : 
 
 ' ' men ! fear your Lord , who hath created 
 you of one man (nafs, soul) and of him created 
 his wife, and from these twain hath spread 
 abroad so many men and women. And fear ye 
 God, in whose name ye ask mutual favours, and 
 reverence the wombs that bare you. Verily is 
 God watching over you ! ' 
 
 ' ' Give women their dowry freely ; but if of 
 themselves they give up ought thereof to you, 
 then enjoy it as convenient and profitable : and 
 entrust not to the incapable the substance which 
 God hath placed with you for their support ; but 
 maintain them therewith, and clothe them, and 
 speak to them with kindly speech." 
 
 ' Men are superior to women on account of 
 the qualities with which God hath gifted the 
 one above the other, and on account of the out- 
 lay they make from their substance for them. 
 Virtuous women are obedient, careful, during 
 the husband's absence, because God hath of 
 them been careful." 
 
41 
 
 " And if a wife fear ill-usage or aversion on 
 the part of her husband, then shall it be no 
 fault in them if they can agree with mutual 
 agreement, for agreement is best. Men's souls 
 are prone to avarice ; but if ye act kindly and 
 fear God, then verily, your actions are not un- 
 noticed by God ! ' 
 
 " Among my followers, the best of men are 
 they who are best and kindest to their women." 
 
 " Woman is sovereign in the house of her 
 husband." 
 
 ' The world is full of objects of joy and de- 
 light, and the best source of delight is a pious 
 and chaste woman." 
 
 " And one of His signs is that He has created 
 wives for you of your own species, that you may 
 be comforted with them, and has put love and 
 tenderness between you." 
 
 1 ' Paradise lies at the feet of thy mother. The 
 rights of women are sacred ; see that women 
 are maintained in the rights attributed to them. 
 Do not prevent your women from coming to 
 Mosque. The best of you before God and His 
 creation are those who are best in their own 
 family and best to their wives. A virtuous wife 
 is man's best treasure. Fear God in regard to 
 the treatment of your wives, they are your 
 helpers. You have taken them on the security 
 of God and made them lawful by the words of 
 God." 
 
 These passages in the Holy Koran are sufficient to 
 show how utterly mistaken are those who make 
 reckless and false statements concerning the posi- 
 tion of women in the Muslim world. 
 
 The limits of this small book will not permit me 
 to reproduce more than a small percentage of the 
 
 4 
 
42 
 
 precious gems from the sayings of the Holy Prophet 
 Mahomet, but I cannot refrain from here quoting a 
 few of these sayings in the hope that their perusal 
 will give, to those who have not before heard them, 
 a fair idea of the beautiful and noble character of the 
 Divinely inspired man whose memory we bless and 
 revere. 
 
 ON HUMANITY. 
 
 1. He from whom the greatest good cometh to His 
 creature is the most favoured of God. 
 
 2. The best of men is he from whom good 
 accrue th to humanity. 
 
 3. All God's creatures are His family ; and he is 
 the most beloved of God who trieth to do most good 
 to God's creatures. 
 
 4. Whoever is kind to His creatures, God is kind 
 to him ; therefore, be kind to man on earth, whether 
 good or bad ; and 
 
 TO BE KIND TO BAD 
 
 is to withhold him from badness, so that those who 
 are in Heaven may be kind to you. 
 
 5. He who helpeth his fellow creature in the hour 
 of need, and he who helpeth the oppressed, him will 
 God help in the Day of Travail. 
 
 6. What are 
 
 MOST EXCELLENT ACTIONS'? 
 
 To gladden the heart of a human being ; to feed the 
 hungry ; to help the afflicted ; to lighten the sorrow 
 of the sorrowful ; and to remove the wrongs of the 
 injured. 
 
 RESPECT GEEY HAIRS. 
 
 1. To every young person who honoureth the old 
 on account of their age, may God appoint those who 
 shall honour him in his years. 
 
43 
 
 2. HE IS *OT OF US 
 
 who is not affectionate to his little ones, and doth 
 not respect the reputation of the old ; and he is not 
 of us who doth not order that which is good, and 
 prohibit that which is bad. 
 
 TO EARN AN HONEST LIVING IS 
 RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 1. Those who earn an honest living are the beloved 
 of God. 
 
 2. God is gracious to him that earneth his living 
 by his own labour, and not by begging. 
 
 3. Whoso is able and fit, and doth not work for 
 himself or for others, God is not gracious to him. 
 
 4. He who neither worketh for himself nor for 
 others will not receive the reward of God. 
 
 5. Pray to God morning and evening, and employ 
 the day in your avocation. 
 
 ON LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 1. He dieth not who giveth life to learning. 
 
 2. Whoso honoureth the learned honoureth me. 
 
 3. Learn to know thyself, O Ali. 
 
 4. Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave. 
 
 5. Philosophy is the stray camel of the faithful 
 (Muslim) ; take hold of it wherever ye come across it. 
 
 6. The calamity of knowledge is forgetfulness ; 
 and to lose knowledge is this, to speak of it to the 
 unworthy. 
 
 Who are the learned? Those who practise what 
 they know. 
 
 7. One learned man is harder on the devi] than a 
 thousand ignorant worshippers. 
 
 8. The desire of knowledge is a divine command- 
 ment for every Muslim. 
 
44 
 
 9. That person who shall pursue the path of know- 
 ledge, God will direct him to the path of paradise. 
 
 10. He who knoweth his own self knoweth God. 
 
 11. Acquire knowledge. It enableth its possessor 
 to distinguish right from wrong, it lighteth the way 
 to heaven ; it is our friend in the desert, our society 
 in solitude, our companion when friendless; it 
 guideth us to happiness ; it sustaineth us in misery ; 
 it is an ornament amongst friends, and an armour 
 against enemies. 
 
 12. The knowledge from which no benefit is 
 derived is like a treasure from which no charity is 
 bestowed in the way of the Lord. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE LEAVING THE WORLD. 
 
 The Messenger of God repeated something of 
 strife and said, " It will appear at the time of know- 
 ledge leaving the world." I said, " O Messenger of 
 God, how will knowledge go from the world since 
 we read the Quran, and teach it to our children, and 
 our children to theirs, and so on till the last day? ' 
 Then Lord Mohammad said. "O Zaid, I supposed 
 you the most learned man of Medinah. Do the Jews 
 and Christians who read the Bible and the Erangel 
 act on them ? 
 
 WISH NOT FOR DEATH 
 
 any one of you neither the doer of good works, for 
 peradventure, he may increase them by an increase 
 of life ; nor the offender, for perhaps he may obtain 
 the forgiveness of God by repentance. Wish not nor 
 supplicate for death before its time cometh, for 
 verily, when you die, hope is out and the ambition 
 for reward; and verily, the increase of a believer's 
 life increaseth his good works. 
 
45 
 
 The Mahomedans have the advantage of the so- 
 called Christians, for the idea of a heaven without 
 women is unthinkable to them. They know that as 
 God has provided this most precious gift on earth, so 
 He will continue to provide that priceless gift in 
 heaven. After all, it seems but reasonable that a 
 man should be more happy living for ever in para- 
 dise with his dear wife than sitting for ever on 
 a cloud in the company of uncharitable per- 
 sons of more than questionable morals and 
 intolerant religious convictions and fanatical 
 dogmas. Having myself passed much of my 
 early life in an atmosphere of somewhat constricted 
 Christianity, I have always felt that in the Mahome- 
 dan religion might be found charity and simplicity, 
 and freedom from the dogmatic tenets of the 
 Romanists and Protestants. Subsequent visits to the 
 East and study of the Holy Koran have confirmed 
 me in this opinion. As regards the rewards after 
 this life, it must be admitted that the majority of 
 Christian teachers hold out the hope of a rather 
 dreary and untangible set of future enjoyments. Xot 
 so the Mahomedan faith, which tells us of pleasures 
 we can understand, which appeal to our intelligence 
 and the senses given us by God. 
 
 What pleasure is equal to that which we enjoy 
 when in the company of the greatest and most 
 wonderful gift of God ? Can any moments of earthly 
 joy be compared with those we are given when mind 
 and soul and body are joined in gratitude to the 
 Most Merciful for sending us our most cherished 
 possession Woman ? 
 
 ' Of all the gifts God's mercy sends 
 To man, there's none that ever lends 
 A millionth part of the great good 
 Of pure and noble womanhood.* 1 
 
4 6 
 
 \Ve are told to believe that our Father in heaven 
 will reward us with great pleasures in the world to 
 come ; we know that our greatest and purest 
 pleasures in this world have been connected with 
 women our mothers and our wives so that it 
 seems reasonable to believe that the heavenly plea- 
 sures will follow on, in intensified form, those with 
 which we are already acquainted, and which ice 
 acknowledge are the most wonderful we can 
 experience in the flesh. It is not sensuality, as some 
 unworthy traducers endeavour to make out, but a 
 grateful acknowledgment and acceptance by truly 
 devout minds, souls and bodies, of exquisite joys, 
 which in our future state will develop, in ways known 
 only to God, into those still greater delights which 
 pass man's understanding. 
 
 Very many Christian writings discourage the 
 toiler after truth by their persistent denial of man's 
 right to enjoy himself, either in this world or the 
 next. Nearly all the most pleasant things of the 
 world are spoken of as sinful, whereas the reverse 
 should be the case, since it is surely sinful to neglect 
 or refuse to enjoy that which God's mercy has pro- 
 vided for our delectation. If our faculties and per- 
 ception remain at all the same after that change 
 which we, in our ignorance, often call ' death." 
 we shall reasonably look for an extension in glorified 
 form of joys we already know something about. 
 
 The unknown is shrouded in obscurity, and we see 
 through a glass very darkly at present. It would 
 appear that instead of clearing up mysteries, the 
 dogmas of the Christian churches have greatly com- 
 plicated matters, and helped to block up the path 
 towards intelligent belief. It may be difficult for 
 our limited intelligences to form any but the vaguest 
 idea of the infinite power of the All-Mighty, the 
 All-Merciful, the All-Being, but the true Spirit of 
 
47 
 
 Islam enables men to approach their Maker without 
 any mediation or intervention, since the followers of 
 the Holy Prophet Mahomet do everything in the 
 name of the Most Merciful God, who is ever ready 
 in every place to hearken to His children's voices. 
 
 1 ' Oh that men would praise the Lord for His 
 goodness, and for His wonderful works to the 
 children of men ! ' -Psalms cvii. 8, 15, 21, 31. 
 
 " The world and all things in it are valuable, 
 but the most valuable thing in the world is a 
 virtuous woman." Sayings of Holy Prophet 
 Mahomet. 
 
 When prostrate at Thy feet I fall, 
 
 Fresh wisdom to acquire, 
 All Thy past favours I recall : 
 
 Nor do I now r desire 
 To ask from Thee what Thou must know- 
 
 In Thy omniscient mind, 
 Is really best for us below 
 
 And infinitely kind. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIFT OF GOD. 
 
 AEE WESTERN WOMEN LACKING IN 
 DELICACY? 
 
 PLAIN SPEAKING seems to be one of the charac- 
 teristics of the present day. There are no * 4 closed 
 books " for girls, even of fifteen or sixteen years of 
 age. They simply know everything there is to know, 
 and therefore they have nothing to find out. They 
 will talk about maternity and what to do with the 
 baby in the embryonic and the teething stage, and 
 give you their opinion on the Malthusian principles 
 and the proper way to stamp out contagious diseases 
 in the Army. I have met many such women ; for 
 the most part they are unmarried, and their ages 
 range from the earliest maidenhood to that advanced 
 and highly experienced spinsterhood which is capable 
 of advising the most matronly mother exactly what 
 to do with the baby before and after birth. All such 
 maiden ladies claim a very wide knowledge of sex 
 relationship, and if you suggest that some of their 
 statements are perhaps just a little bit advanced or 
 not to put too fine a point on it indelicate, they 
 do not hesitate to dub you ''Early Victorian." 
 Sometimes it has occurred to me, as a plain 
 Englishman with sons who will some day have to be 
 provided with wives, that a little return to that 
 Early Victorian modesty would not be amiss. One 
 likes and admires the healthy, active girl, who plays 
 tennis and golf, and can pull at an oar, but I confess 
 I should not like to see my daughter-in-law with her 
 
49 
 
 nether limbs tightly encased in diaphanous material 
 and the tout ensemble reminding one of a Greek 
 goddess in difficulties or a Columbine in a harle- 
 quinade. 1 love modesty in a woman and, though it 
 is the fashion to laugh at the Easterns for keeping 
 their women veiled and secluded from the vulgar 
 gaze, I think they are to be admired for wishing to 
 shield and protect what they hold so sacred. Fortu- 
 nately, the great majority of our countrywomen can 
 be trusted to decently conceal all that modesty re- 
 quires to be concealed. Some of the modern costumes 
 for women are, to my mind, far worse and more sug- 
 gestive than absolute nudity. There is, of course, 
 nothing actually wicked in walking about without 
 any clothes on I think myself that it is more wicked 
 to walk about with clothes cut in such a way as to 
 excite undesirable thoughts in the mind of the 
 young man in the street. There is nothing wicked 
 in Nature : it is the way we put things and look at 
 things. The other day I was travelling in the 
 Underground Eailway, and found myself sitting 
 opposite to a young lady whose apparel caught my 
 attention. This particular young woman was not 
 very pretty in the face, but her other attractions 
 were, I am bound to say, almost irresistible. She 
 had on a very fine silk and affectionately clinging 
 drapery, which was of the slit-up-one-side variety. 
 Her nether limbs were most exquisitely moulded, 
 and were encased in the finest black silk stockings, 
 through which the delicate pink skin showed up 
 with much effect. Her shoes were of a pattern and 
 shape once seen never to be forgotten, and, as she 
 crossed her legs (pardon the use of the word) I saw 
 a dainty watch on a dainty garter. If the spirit 
 of mischief, which sometimes makes me rathor 
 a nuisance to my friends, had animated me at 
 that moment * ' psychological moment" is, I be- 
 
So 
 
 lieve, the correct term I should have leaned for- 
 ward and asked her to let me look at the time. 
 There were two or three other men in the compart- 
 ment, and they gave me quizzical glances. I knew 
 what was passing in their heads, and they knew 
 what was passing in mine. It was something like 
 this : ' Well, I never did see better shaped limbs ; 
 but I'm glad she's not my daughter/' I must be 
 excused for giving an account of this apparently 
 insignificant incident, as it opens up the path to a 
 short article I wrote some time ago, in answer to 
 certain strong-minded ladies who had got it into 
 their heads that man, vile man, is the author of all 
 the disasters and woes which beset suffering female 
 humanity. I now give the article exactly as I wrote 
 it, word for word, and I have not even altered the 
 heading to suit the character of this book ! Since 
 those ladies who attacked " man " with such vitriolic 
 warmth did not hesitate to speak quite freely of sub- 
 jects which are usually left for the physician's or sur- 
 geon's consulting rooms, I must make some apology 
 for allusions to facts the mention of which is neces- 
 sary to prove my contentions. 
 
 THE REVOLT OF WOMAN, 
 COMMONLY CALLED THE "WOMEN'S MOVEMENT." 
 
 In treating of sex questions it seems to me that 
 physical conformation is not sufficiently considered. 
 The form of a man is such that he is constantly 
 being reminded of possibilities in a way which is not 
 apparent in the case of a woman. Boys are thus 
 early tempted, but girls are not. Then, again, in 
 early life nature will not allow a young man to be 
 a bachelor in the same sense that a girl is a maiden, 
 for the simple but always overlooked reason that 
 he has been denied the natural outlet or relief 
 
Si 
 
 afforded to a woman at certain definite periods, and 
 without any effort whatever on her part. In other 
 words. Nature favours a woman with relief which a 
 man cannot properly and decently obtain without 
 the assistance of womankind. This assistance the 
 Creator intended man to have and, if we fail to pro- 
 vide him with that which alone can preserve his self- 
 respect and manliness, we may in time do 
 incalculable damage by forcing him in the direction 
 of various forms of vice infinitely degrading and 
 demoralizing, and fatal to the very strength of the 
 nation to which he belongs. Another point is that 
 every man who marries a woman who is not a widow 
 expects the girl to be a maiden, but how many 
 women, who know anything at all, expect the man 
 to be a virgin in the sense of never having touched 
 another woman? The importance of chastity in one 
 case is so very much greater than in the other. Fear 
 keeps women "honest," and rightly, too, for are 
 they not to be the means of continuing their hus- 
 band's name in their children? 
 
 Two unmarried ladies told me not long ago that 
 they knew everything, and that I could not enlighten 
 them on any sex question or sex problem. I felt 
 sorry, because I knew that, as ladies of mature 
 years, they should not have spoken so if they wished 
 to retain their characters for respectability. In these 
 days, and especially since the appearance of certain 
 articles in the " Suffragette/' it seems necessary to 
 call a spade a very decided spade, so I will proceed 
 to explain one or two points which seem to have been 
 lost sight of by those ladies who would make out 
 that men are monsters of iniquity, and that all the 
 trouble in the world comes through the male sex. 
 
 The modern female between girlhood and woman- 
 hood the strange hobble-skirted little creature 
 sometimes called a " Flapper/' who pretends to 
 
52 
 
 know everything, does really know far too much, is 
 prepared to go anywhere, and do anything. What is 
 she? Is she the product of man's wickedness or the 
 too go-ahead times? She is a hardened creature, 
 incapable of blushing and, though clad in the 
 scantiest and most transparent attire, feels no sense 
 of shame. She shows her shapely leg plenty of it 
 and her one or two garments fit so tightly that 
 there is very little left to the imagination. Of 
 course, there is really nothing to be ashamed of in 
 the human form divine, but it certainly comes as 
 rather a shock or startler to some men to observe 
 how much of her the modern young woman permits 
 him to see and think about. Our British climate is 
 against an absolute discarding of all clothing, but 
 there are not wanting indications that, before many 
 more years have rolled by, ladies with pretty figures 
 will be content with painting or dyeing their skins 
 with harmonious and tasteful designs though they 
 may wear bangles on wrists and ankles, and possibly 
 a watch below, or above the knee. Then we shall 
 have returned to some extent to the ways of the 
 ancient Britons. Possibly this would be all right. 
 There is nothing at all disgraceful in anything 
 in Nature. What I am trying to show is that the 
 female is ever trying to captivate and fascinate the 
 male ; she is disappointed if she fails to attract him : 
 Nature tells her that she has that within her which 
 should attract him, and she knows by instinct that 
 he may be caught by the thousand and one blandish- 
 ments which she can bring to bear on his suscepti- 
 bilities. 
 
 In Isaiah iii., verse 16, we read : " Moreover the 
 Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are 
 haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and 
 wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and 
 making a tinkling with their feet : therefore the 
 
53 
 
 Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of 
 the daughters of Zion, &c." 
 
 The worst of quoting from the Old Testament is 
 that people nearly always say, "Oh, that was the 
 old dispensation it does not apply to the present 
 day." But even the New Testament, relating to 
 the new dispensation, is not always well received by 
 the most religious and devout persons of the Chris- 
 tian persuasion. The other day a friend of mine 
 called the attention of a Suffragette lady to St. Paul's 
 admonitions to women, their duties to their hus- 
 bands, &c., &c. The strong-minded lady at once 
 retorted, "Oh, that is not Christianity. St. Paul 
 wrote a lot of rubbish about women, and did not 
 know w 7 hat he was talking about." The point was 
 not pressed, but it must occur to any impartial per- 
 son that, if St. Paul wrote "rubbish" about such 
 an extremely important matter as sex relationship 
 and duty, very possibly the rest of his teaching was, 
 if not worthless, at least open to criticism and doubt. 
 Biit it is not the poor little "flapper' who is 
 alone to blame; indeed, she is but a small drop in 
 the bucket ; nor is it the poor, unfortunate girl who 
 sells her person in order that she may keep body and 
 soul together ; it is the unscrupulous woman of 
 Society who does so much harm. With her it is 
 pure wickedness which makes her unfaithful to her 
 husband and leads her to ruin the careers of young 
 men who would otherwise marry and lead good lives. 
 What is usually called prostitution is , of course , very 
 dreadful when carried out by poor women to keep 
 themselves alive, or support their orphan families, 
 but it is not a thousandth part as bad as that prosti- 
 tution w r hich is taking place in those ranks where it 
 is not at all necessary to life, and where it' is rice 
 pure and simple. 
 
 Most right thinking men like to see women happy 
 
54 
 
 and enjoying themselves, and would not withhold 
 from them any innocent pleasures, such as smoking, 
 which soothes their nerves ; but there are others who 
 would selfishly withhold the fragrant weed from 
 their sisters whilst indulging in its use themselves. 
 We all know r that women are, especially at certain 
 times, very nervous and irritable, and the use of 
 tobacco is just what they require to steady them and 
 ease their sufferings. The present waiter would deny 
 no legitimate pleasure to women : all the most exqui- 
 site pleasures of life are associated with what? our 
 mothers and our wives. Why do young men work 
 so hard at their professions? Is it not, in nine cases 
 out of ten, that they may earn enough to make a 
 little home in which to shelter and cherish some 
 particular girl they love? Is not the "ruling pas- 
 sion " at the bottom of every real man's existence? 
 Are there any pleasures to compare with those men 
 derive from God's most beautiful and precious gift? 
 The passion between the sexes is so intense that, in 
 desire for relief and satisfaction, it comes next to 
 hunger and thirst. Why make a mystery of it, for 
 it rules the whole world ! The fair sex is quite 
 aware of it, and wide awake to possibilities. Ninety - 
 nine women out of a hundred love to be admired 
 and run after by men it is their nature just as it 
 is the nature of the little hen sparrow to try to secure 
 the attention of the little cock sparrow 7 . Xo right- 
 minded man objects to this, but it so often happens 
 that the lady, having angled for and caught the 
 gentleman, turns round and abuses him for kissing 
 or otherwise falling in with her requirements. 
 Respect for women is one thing, but giving in to 
 inconsistencies is quite another. There is nothing 
 a. woman so much resents as neglect or indifference. 
 A very smartly dressed woman, walking down a 
 fashionable street, would rather submit to the in- 
 
55 
 
 dignity of being kissed against her will, than to the 
 humiliation of not being noticed at all. Lately, the 
 outrageous fashions of transparent hobbles and split 
 skirts worn by many so-called ladies reveal not 
 only the persons but also the want of delicacy of the 
 wearers. The writer of these lines is not easily 
 shocked, but has often felt shame and disgust at the 
 open exhibition of feminine charms which are sup- 
 posed to be kept, if not concealed altogether, at 
 least covered up from the inspection of the "man 
 in the street." Much of our modern literature is 
 simply disgusting, the clothing of our women is 
 lacking in the first principles of modesty, and even a 
 return to the Early Victorian simplicity would be a 
 relief to those who rightly regard woman as the most 
 sacred treasure and most exquisite gift of God to 
 man. 
 
 When a woman gives herself to a man in mar- 
 riage she sinks her identity, as it were, in her hus- 
 band ; she changes her name to his name, and be- 
 comes part of him. He renders himself responsible 
 for her maintenance, and the offspring take his 
 name, and he is responsible for their bringing up 
 and maintenance. If chastity and faithfulness are 
 admirable in the man, they are absolutely essential 
 in the woman, since one single departure from the 
 path of virtue on her part may possibly mean not 
 only indelible disgrace to an honoured name, but the 
 cruel unfairness of forcing on the husband the bring- 
 ing up of another man's child. So that there can be 
 no comparison between the importance of chastity in 
 the male and female. I would say that it should be 
 the aim and object of every man to so order and 
 direct his desires that they should be centered on 
 one woman only. It should be repellent to his 
 nature to think of other women except in the way of 
 kindly wishes and friendliness. 
 
56 
 
 Now, I trust that my readers will see from the 
 above that I have endeavoured to handle a somewhat 
 delicate and difficult task in an honest manner, and 
 without unduly offending susceptibilities. I am 
 actuated by a desire to see an improvement in the 
 conduct of women generally. As an old friend of 
 mine used to say, "People are apt to forget that 
 what applies to old Adam applies also to old 
 Madam," and those high-spirited ladies who would 
 wish to lay all the blame for the misfortunes of their 
 sex at the door of " man " must remember that their 
 responsibilities are great, and that every time they 
 forget modesty they run a chance of leading astray 
 their brothers in human temptation. 
 
 Next to my absolute and unbounded confidence in 
 God and love to obey Him comes my love for certain 
 of my fellow-creatures, and it always seems difficult 
 to know whether parents or children occupy the 
 second place. I think the children come next, be- 
 cause of their youth and inexperience, which render 
 our loving care most necessary. Then, I think, come 
 those women whose love and patient devotion enable 
 men to overcome difficulties and troubles which 
 would otherwise overwhelm them. A good woman's 
 influence often moulds a man's character and sends 
 him off on the right path from which he might stray 
 were it not for her sympathy and help. 
 
 " Soul of my soul, heart of my heart. 
 
 Love of my love's intensity, 
 Apart from thee life seems no life, 
 But a void of vast immensity. 
 
 ' To see thy face, to hear thy voice, 
 
 To touch thy hand, or breathe thy air, 
 Are pleasures which are greater far 
 Than all earth's beauties rich and rare. 
 
57 
 
 " This love is not an earthly love, 
 
 Its source is far in Heaven above ; 
 In ages past we met before, 
 
 And now our love is more and more. 
 
 1 ' Intensified by miseries here , 
 
 Washed by many a crystal tear ; 
 Purified by sufferings rare, 
 Until it shines so passing fair 
 
 ' That even angels can but own 
 
 That love may every sin atone. 
 No dross our loving bosoms hold, 
 
 For naught remains but purest gold." 
 
 A heaven without the people I love so much 
 would not be a heaven to please me. I firmly be- 
 lieve that in the next stage of existence all our 
 greatest pleasures and delights on earth will be inten- 
 sified a hundredfold, and that all those who have 
 loved God in this world, and have accepted with true 
 gratitude His exquisite gifts, and obeyed His laws, 
 will be rewarded by an extension of the delights of 
 life which " pass man's understanding." But I do 
 not think these pleasures will come to the low- 
 minded and brutish men who debase the sweetest 
 thing on earth , or to those women who wickedly take 
 advantage of the weaknesses and baser desires of 
 mankind. It is only the spiritual minded who can 
 ever hope to fully realize the intense delights of the 
 spirit life. At first it seemed strange to me to find 
 that natural desires should lead me to think seriously 
 of the higher life. Noic I can reason it out, after all 
 these years of thought, and no doubt the process of 
 reasoning in my brain has been something after this 
 fashion. 'God has given me intense pleasure in 
 the contemplation of His most exquisite gift it is 
 
 5 
 
58 
 
 too wonderful, it is so beautiful and sweet that I 
 cannot find words to express my gratitude therefore 
 how great and how merciful is God, and how can I 
 ever hope to thank Him sufficiently for such a beauti- 
 ful gift?" 
 
 Here was born in my mind and heart that grati- 
 tude to the Almighty which might never have come 
 into existence had mere food, drink, and sleep been 
 the only blessings for which to return thanks. So 
 that, in my own case at least, my very highest and 
 sincerest aspirations towards the better life and to- 
 wards God Himself, are really the outcome of what 
 so many I think they are mistaken call human 
 passions and human weaknesses. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 WILFUL MISREPRESENTATIONS. 
 
 * 
 
 "This above all, to thine own self be true; 
 And it must follow, as the night the day, 
 Thou canst not then be false to any man." 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 IN January of the present year an unusually mis- 
 leading article on the subject of apostasy appeared 
 in the Daily Mail, and, later, on, East and West, 
 with the result that the following article appeared 
 in the columns of the latter organ : 
 
 1 ' After having been a Muslim by conviction 
 for twenty years, Lord Headley has recently 
 announced this fact to the world. We could 
 wish that during these twenty years he had 
 studied the teaching and practice of Mohame- 
 dans more carefully than he has done. He 
 would not then have said : ' It is the intolerance 
 of those professing the Christian religion which 
 more than anything else is responsible for my 
 secession. You never hear Mahomedans speak 
 concerning those of other religions as you hear 
 Christians talk of one another. They may feel 
 very sorry that other persons do not hold the 
 Mahometan faith, but they don't condemn them 
 to everlasting damnation because of a differing 
 belief.' The Daily Mail, which contained the 
 announcement of the conversion of Lord Head- 
 ley, contained in its next issue a letter from a 
 lecturer in Arabic in London , in which he wrote 
 a propos of the suggested intolerance of Chris- 
 tians : ' If a Moslem in any really Moslem land 
 
6o 
 
 were to do as Lord Headley has done, and 
 announce his conversion to Christianity, his life 
 would not be worth a day's purchase, and his 
 death would be justified by the express teaching 
 of the Koran. Such is Moslem toleration ; con- 
 verts are only allowed to live w r here the strong 
 arm of Christian Justice can protect them.' In 
 reply to Lord Headley 's statement that Islam 
 does not condemn to the torment of hell those 
 who fail to acknowledge Mohammad, we may 
 quote the words of the Koran (Sura 4, v. 59). 
 ' Those who disbelieve our signs we will burn 
 them with fire : as often as their skins are 
 roasted we will give them new skins.' This is 
 one of many similar statements contained in the 
 Koran." 
 
 To refute the idea that true Moslems would murder 
 a brother so foolish as to renounce the faith of Islam , 
 I may quote one line which appears in the Holy 
 Koran immediately after one of the most beautiful 
 and impressive passages in the Book : ' Let there 
 be no compulsion (no violence) in Religion." No 
 true Moslem would have any feelings but of deepest 
 pity and sorrow for a deserter from the fold pre- 
 sided over and tended by our Gracious Shepherd and 
 King. Myself, a true Moslem of nearly forty years' 
 standing, I have children, all of whom will, I hope, 
 follow me in the faith; but supposing, for the sake 
 of argument, that one of them so far forgot himself 
 as to change his religion , should I wish him ill ? No . 
 I should be deeply grieved, but should not alter in 
 my fatherly affection one iota. I should argue with 
 him, and do my very best to show him the folly of 
 deserting Islam, but if my arguments failed I should 
 deal just as kindly with him as before. In the same 
 way, if I were so erratic as to change to any other 
 faith than Islam I know that all mv brethren in 
 
6 1 
 
 Islam would consider that I had broken down 
 mentally, and did not quite realise the folly of my 
 action. Not for one moment would they think of 
 murdering me. Of course, there are fanatics in all 
 religions. How about the fanatics of the " Holy ' 
 Inquisition ? How about the fanatics of the Middle 
 Ages who tortured, maimed, and burned those who 
 thought differently from themselves? Of course, if 
 I, a Moslem, \vent into some wild parts I could name 
 in Central Africa, and openly stated that I was 
 about to change my religion, I should stand a very 
 good chance of being cut down by some religious 
 fanatic. Thank God, however, there is not much 
 chance of any of us ever stepping from the light 
 back into the darkness. We all know the value of 
 being able to approach our Maker without any inter- 
 vention of any kind , and our love for God , and desire 
 to be directed by Him, are strong indeed. 
 
 I remember once, after a particularly cruel act 
 had been committed, there w y as a suggestion of deal- 
 ing severely with the culprit, but the offence was so 
 bad that nothing short of the death penalty would 
 have met the case ; and then one , more wise than 
 the others who were considering the case, said, 
 'Leave him to God." 
 
 There is nothing in the Koran sanctioning the 
 assassination of a man for changing his religion. If 
 any man, once having embraced the faith of Islam, 
 should be so wicked and so foolish as to desert it, he 
 must be dealt with in the Highest Court. We have 
 no right to kill him, for that would be murder. All 
 the Mahomedan law is founded on the Holy Koran, 
 and in none of the pages of that Book are to be found 
 any punishments prescribed for the apostates, except 
 the suffering which they must undergo in the next 
 life for dying in nnbehlief. All the punishments 
 begin after death. If the apostate were to be 
 
62 
 
 punished with death here the verses in the Koran 
 would be differently warded. It is expressly stated 
 that no guidance shall be given to the apostate, w r hose 
 punishment shall take place in the future state not 
 here. 
 
 The learned Arabic scholar who wrote in the Daily 
 Mail says : " Converts are only allowed to live where 
 the strong arm of Christian justice can protect them. ' ' 
 How many converts are there? How many desert 
 Islam after experiencing its blessings? I should 
 like the learned gentleman to furnish me with a list 
 of converts from Islam to any other religion. 
 
 From time to time I have come across the writings 
 of Christian missionaries, usually in the form of 
 small booklets, professing to give true particulars 
 respecting the Mahomedan faith, and I am sorry to 
 have to confess to a feeling of deep humiliation and 
 shame at finding that any of my countrymen could 
 stoop to duplicity and misrepresentation in order to 
 advance their views on the subject of religion. It 
 is that very religion which if it is worth anything 
 at all should teach scrupulous fairness and love of 
 truth. It is perfectly astounding to what lengths 
 Christian religious fanatics, I can call them by no 
 other name, will go when they have the chance. 
 Look on the other side of the picture : is it not 
 wonderfully indicative of the spirit of charity and 
 tolerance inculcated by the Koran to notice the calm- 
 ness with which the vast assembly of our Muslim 
 brethren receive these unworthy attacks made upon 
 them and their religion in the name of the gentle 
 Jesus, one of their own Prophets? We do not. so 
 far as I know, find violence and misrepresentations 
 in Mahomedan works, for though there would be 
 some excuse for strong language on the part of the 
 Muslims, there would be no chance of their resort- 
 ing to such false charges as seem to form their 
 
63 
 
 opponents' chief weapon of attack. I have not given 
 the names of the booklets above referred to, but 
 they can be easily procured from the publishers who 
 undertake that description of literature. 
 
 I will now give some quotations from pamphlets 
 written with the view of taking away the character 
 of the Holy Prophet, and it will be seen by any 
 fair-minded person that venom and vindictive abuse 
 are the weapons used. There is no argument and 
 no reference to historical facts nothing but a suc- 
 cession of revolting statements, which the authors 
 knew very well they could not substantiate. Here 
 we have really shocking examples, and I feel that 
 some apology is due to my readers for reproducing 
 such unhealthy verbiage. My excuse is that the 
 public ought to know how fanatical and fantastic 
 are the attacks against the long-suffering Muslims, 
 whose charity and patience and good taste will not 
 allow them to retaliate in the same vulgar terms. 
 Here are the passages above referred to, and I am 
 told that they appeared in the " Noor Afshau," a 
 Christian weekly in Ludiana , and I give the date 
 and the page of its various publications, for easy 
 reference : 
 
 June 12, 1913, page 8. The revelations which 
 came to Muhammad were brought by the devil. 
 
 June 19, 1913, page 1. The Muhammadans are 
 really donkeys, and their deeds are like the asses. 
 Page 6. Muhammad was himself a lusty admirer 
 of female beauty and amorous. 
 
 August 8, 1913, page 6. The Mnsalmans have the 
 ropes of Satan around their neck. 
 
 September 25, page 10. All married women of 
 Arabia are prostitutes. 
 
 September 25, page 9. The wives of Muhammad 
 are called mothers of the faithful , and therefore they 
 
64 
 
 are shoes. With them they shall beat them on their 
 head. . . . Muhammad was the introducer of 
 immorality. 
 
 October 24, 1913, page 14. It is the God of the 
 Quran and Hadees (traditions of the Prophet 
 Muhammad) who is thus creating men full of sin, 
 who not only does not give them the right path, but, 
 on the other hand, always misleads them. 
 
 November 7, 1913, page 1:2. Their (Muslims) 
 salvation is based on the earning of sins. To work 
 good deeds has been held the means of deprivation 
 to them. But sin has been ordained as the only aim 
 of their natural life. 
 
 December 18, page 9. In this page the writer says 
 that Muhammad made a nation to always commit 
 sins, and their signs are that their leaders speak 
 deliberate falsehoods, commit murder, robbery, bur- 
 glary, think adultery a glad tiding . . . ; every- 
 body among them is accompanied with Satan, and 
 they are all hellish. 
 
 Also the following have been collected from 
 various sources, and appeared in the April number 
 of the " Islamic Eeview " : 
 
 11 ISBAT-I-KAFFABA." 
 
 By T. Howell, Pastor of English Church, Lahore. 
 
 Printed at the Newal Kishore Steam Press, 
 
 Lahore, 1913. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Page 3, lines 11 and 12. Reproachfully address- 
 ing the Mussalmans and Aryas, the writer says 
 That because the leaders of you both were wicked 
 criminals and frail minded. 
 
 Page 10, line 3. Seed of crime which is called the 
 
65 
 
 Satan's part every now and then sprang from 
 Muhammad's mind. 
 
 Page 20, line 9-10. Just out of his own desire or 
 Satanic delusions, Muhammad praised the idols and 
 used to prostrate before them. 
 
 Page 20, line 15. He (Muhammad) did also fre- 
 quently remain in subjection to Satan and sorcery. 
 
 PAMPHLET NAMED " HAZBAT MUHAMMAD." 
 
 Written by Eev. G. H. Eaoos, D.D. Published by 
 Christian Literature Society for India. 
 
 Page 6. There are many things which prove him 
 a guilty criminal. 
 
 Page 10. Greed and rage were strong evils in 
 Muhammad. 
 
 Page 14. He was a criminal. 
 
 He was himself indigent of salvation. 
 
 He can, in no way, be spared from the hell. 
 
 He was himself a criminal and, like other delin- 
 quents, was entitled to be thrown in the fire (hell). 
 
 PAMPHLET " HAMAEA SHAFIK KAUN HAL" 
 
 Written by Eev. J. H. Eaoos, D.D. Printed at 
 Ludhiana Mission Press. 
 
 Page 5. Muhammad himself a criminal and 
 wanted the recommendation of a sinless. 
 
 Page 6. Muhammad shall be in want of some 
 intercessor and redeemer just like the ordinary 
 criminals. 
 
 PAMPHLET " DAFE-UL-BOHTAN." 
 
 Written by Eev. Eauklin. Printed at the Mission 
 Press, Allahabad. 
 
 Page 69. We cannot but call Muhammad the 
 same richman (which means the richman who 
 
66 
 
 according to St. Luke was from Abraham's descent, 
 lived a splendid life, and when died was thrown in 
 hell). 
 
 Page 87. The companions of Muhammad are de- 
 picted as murderers, cruel oppressors, adulterers, 
 deceivers, robbers, doers of every kind of evil deeds, 
 &c. 
 
 Page 154. (He was) a worldly man and follower 
 of his lust, and such men often indulge in such 
 things. Sornw for all such men because they have 
 the same end and they shall be collectively thrown 
 in the wrath of God i.e.. in the lake of fire and 
 sulphur (the hell). 
 
 PAMPHLET " SEEBAT-UL-MASIH WAL 
 
 MUHAMMAD. " 
 Written by Eev. Thakar Dass, American 
 
 Mission. 
 
 Page 6. Muhammad was in his person a sinful. 
 He was practically delinquent. 
 
 Page 14. The very shape of Muhammad like the 
 Arabs shows him the greatest indulgent in sensuality 
 and lover of women. 
 
 Page 21. Muhammad was a devious and infernal 
 man. 
 
 Page 31. It seems that he was ensnared by 
 Satan. 
 
 Page 35. Readers ! be careful that you might not 
 be taken over by Muhammad's fraud. 
 
 PAMPHLET " ANDBOONA BIBLE." 
 
 Page 70. The owner of the sign of this anti- 
 Christ is originally the same old bloody serpent 
 (Satan), yet when lie opens his mouth his very jaws 
 show him personified in the histories of the Pope and 
 the Prophet of Arabia. 
 
67 
 
 Page 75. The religion of Muhammad and that of 
 the Pope are the jaws of one serpent (Satan). 
 
 PAMPHLET ''MUHAMMADI TWAEIKH 
 
 IJMAL." 
 
 By Eev. William, of Eewari. Printed at the 
 Christian Mission Press, Eewari. 
 
 Pages 1 to 7. Muhammad, the leader of robbers, 
 dacoits, burglars, murderers, and deceivers. 
 
 Page 8. Muhammad was a great sinner. 
 
 Page 25. Notwithstanding Gabriel's endeavour- 
 ing to remove the dusk of his (Muhammad's) heart 
 by repeated washings, which was seed of crime or 
 the spermatoza, or part of the Satan, it was never 
 removed from him. Muhammad might have 
 blackened his heart by frequently indulging in com- 
 mitting crimes without controlling up his mind. 
 
 Page 27. Muhammad was particularly arrested 
 in the steam of hell , yet all this happened to him on 
 account of his own crimes under which he laboured 
 till his death. 
 
 Page 31-32. The Muhammadan Moulvies (i.e., 
 the learned theologians) committed crimes of adul- 
 tery, robbery, and the like, they made these trans- 
 gressions in compliance with the desires of Muham- 
 mad under the veil of his motto Lailaha illallaho 
 (which is the fundamental principle of Islamic mono- 
 theistic belief and which means there is no God but 
 One, the only One). 
 
 Pages 31-32. Not only did these teachings create 
 in abundance the Muhammadan prostitutes, but even 
 the heaven, being full of " hoors " and " gilmans," 
 became a regular " chakla." 
 
 Page 49. Not only Muhammad's kalima encour- 
 ages the criminal to commit crimes more boldlv, but 
 
68 
 
 it also serv 7 es him as an anti-dyspepsia pill for diges- 
 tion of crimes and plucks up their courage to indulge 
 in the life of extreme criminality. The blessings of 
 Muhammadan kalima are practically seen to over- 
 crowd the " chakla ' and town 'bazaar' (i.e., 
 places of public prostitution and whoredom). 
 
 Page 55. The case of the God of Quran is just 
 like the devastated town and the blind Raja. 
 
 Page 62. In this page, Muhammadan God is 
 satirically depicted as tyrant. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 Page 29. Cursed is he who does not believe in 
 the atonement of Christ. 
 
 Page 33. It is the God of Quran only who is 
 bloody-thirsty and hungry. 
 
 Page 39. Quran is the manufactured collection 
 of Toret, Injil, the Jewish, Christian, Qureshic, and 
 other inauthentic stories, the rituals of ignorance 
 and unreliable traditions. 
 
 Page 54. In this page the Holy Quran is repre- 
 sented as the robbed property, full of thousands of 
 blunders, fabricated stories and a sentiment of a 
 compound stimulant for sensuality. 
 
 " UMMAHAT-UL-MOMININ." 
 
 Written by Ahmad Shah, Christian, R. P. Mission 
 
 Press, Gujranwala. 
 
 Page 1. Absolutely given up to debauchery, and 
 murder is the important element in the life of 
 Muhammad of Medina. 
 
 Page 26. Treacherous and tyrannic jealousy . . 
 was reserved for himself by Muhammad. 
 
 Page 51. This connection cannot be named any- 
 thing but mere debauchery. 
 
6 9 
 
 Page 63. Prayer of this amorous old female 
 flocker prophet was heard. 
 
 Page 77. He robbed God and spoke lies. 
 
 Page 85. His fire of lust was enkindled and 
 patience was failed, and he did what he did. 
 
 Page 112. Had he possessed shame, he should 
 have drowned himself in a handful of water. 
 
 Page 115. What lies were spoken and what tricks 
 were played. 
 
 Page 121. He was a debauch and lived in 
 debauchery. 
 
 TAFTEESH-UL-ISLAM. 
 By Rev. Rogers. 
 
 Page 56. All this is Muhammad's forgery and 
 fabrication. 
 
 Page 65. He was a sensualist, envious, selfish, 
 and follower of his carnal passions. The Quran is 
 his fabrication. 
 
 Page 80. It is Muhammad's forgery and barking. 
 
 Page 97. He is shown a wicked man by all his 
 deeds, the great prejudice and treachery is found in 
 him. Attended by an unfaithful and selfish mind. 
 He inculcated love of murder. His beginning and 
 end were terminated in the extreme indulgence in 
 sensuality." 
 
 One is really led to believe that the framers of the 
 above calumnies cannot have been instructed in 
 the first principles of their own faith, or they could 
 not spread abroad statements known to themselves 
 as scholars to be false. The teachings of the 
 Holy Koran received practical demonstration in the 
 life of Mahomet who, whether in times of suffering 
 and persecution, or in times of worldly triumph and 
 
;o 
 
 prosperity, displayed the noblest moral qualities 
 which a human being could possibly possess. All 
 the qualities of patience and steadfastness of pur- 
 pose were show r n during that thirteen years of suffer- 
 ing w^hich marked the early portion of his struggles 
 in Mecca. He felt all through that trying time un- 
 shaken trust in God, and performed all his duties 
 w r ith dignity and zeal. He was persevering and 
 fearless of his enemies because he knew 7 he was 
 engaged in God's service, and that God would never 
 desert him. This unflinching courage, w^hich was 
 certainly one of the Prophet's most distinguishing 
 traits, excited the admiration and respect of the 
 unbelievers and those w 7 ho would wdllingly have 
 killed him. It is, however, later on in his life and 
 during the prosperous days at Medina that our feel- 
 ings of admiration are perhaps more deeply aroused. 
 When he had the pow r er of retaliation, and could 
 have had his revenge, we find that he forgave his 
 enemies. 
 
 ' His forgiveness of injuries, charity, courage, 
 and other such morals, were so well displayed dur- 
 ing this period that large numbers of the unbelievers 
 became converts to Islam on seeing them. He freely 
 forgave those who had persecuted and tortured him, 
 gave shelter to those w^ho had expelled him from 
 Mecca, enriched the poor among them, and forgave 
 his bitterest foes w r hen their lives were completely 
 at his mercy. The Divine morals thus displayed by 
 the Holy Prophet convinced the Arabs that their 
 possessor could not but be from God, and a truly 
 righteous man. Their inveterate hatred was by 
 these noble morals at once converted into fast 
 friendship."* 
 
 * "The Teachings of Islam." By Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. 
 Luzac & Co., London. 
 
All the unworthy attempts to belittle the grand 
 teachings of the Holy Prophet by direct and coarse 
 abuse, as well as by specious arguments involving 
 much " suppressio veri " and " suggestio falsi," have 
 been advanced with the deliberate intention of mis- 
 leading, and those who adopt such tactics should be 
 reminded that if they are baptized Christians they 
 should at least copy Christ in the matter of not tell- 
 ing lies, wrhich were so abominable in the eyes of 
 the great teacher of Nazareth. There are several 
 kinds of lies the w r hite lie, w 7 hich does not so much 
 matter since it does no harm, and is often told to 
 shield a neighbour's reputation or help a friend ; 
 then there is the malicious lie, which directly 
 damages friends or neighbours ; but, of all lies, those 
 told in the name of religion are the w r orst, for they 
 bear the impress of trifling with the Almighty 
 than w r hich there can hardly be a greater sin. 
 
 In continuous chain of misrepresentation it is 
 sought to show^ that the Mahomedan faith was 
 responsible for the misdeeds and rapacity of wild 
 and wandering tribes, w r hich happened to be nomin- 
 ally Mahomedan. Just as reasonable would it be to 
 blame Christ for the torturing and burning alive of 
 Bishops and others in this happy land of ours, not so 
 very many years ago. Surely it would never be held 
 that the true Christian religion ever really sanc- 
 tioned the fiendish atrocities of the Inquisition or 
 the innumerable cruelties practised by Christians on 
 each other, as w^ell as on Jews, Muslims, and others, 
 who held different religious opinions. I do not 
 think it can be shown that the Muslims have ever 
 endeavoured to force their view r s and religious beliefs 
 dowii people's throats by means of cruelty and tor- 
 ture. If there be any such cases, then we can only 
 say that the perpetrators of the atrocities could not 
 have been true believers, and could not point to the 
 
72 
 
 Holy Koran for sanction of their deeds. Mahomet 
 was a law-giver and a warrior, and when he and 
 his followers took the sword it was in self-defence ; 
 they were never aggressive, and the Prophet him- 
 self was invariably humane and merciful to his con- 
 quered foes. In order to be able to form a correct 
 opinion as to a man's qualities we must have seen 
 him in misfortune and in prosperity. If he has 
 always been in the hands of persecutors he has had 
 no chances of doing much for either friends or 
 enemies it is impossible to know for certain what 
 he might have done. The highest moral qualities 
 cannot be proved by mere meekness and submission : 
 we must also see the self-control and forgiveness of 
 the man who conquers his feelings of revenge, and 
 even stretches forbearance to its extreme limits. It 
 is tnie that forgiveness was not always extended to 
 those foes of Islam who were implacable in their 
 efforts for the extirpation of the Muslim faith and 
 with revolting cruelty massacred innocent Muslims. 
 Mercy of that kind would but have meant an exten- 
 sion of the cruelties and further loss of life. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 SELF-CONTROL. 
 
 IN early days it always seemed to me a moot point 
 whether it is more noble to place oneself in a posi- 
 tion entirely away from and free from temptation, 
 or to mix freely in situations teeming with moral 
 dangers, and then exercise all the time that courage 
 which is always on the alert, and that strength of 
 mind which enables a man to say " No." " I recog- 
 nize God's mercy, and appreciate the blessed gifts He 
 has sent all of which I use in moderation, so that 
 I may be able to serve Him better." 
 
 The man who, by heroic measures, removes him- 
 self entirely from temptations, such as are to be 
 found with the most seductive human pleasures, 
 hardly shows that steady courage which says , "I 
 love Thy beautiful gifts and enjoy them all with the 
 senses Thou hast supplied me with, but I love Thee 
 better than them all, and in the enjoyment of Thy 
 blessings I will exercise that moderation which will 
 redound to Thy honour and glory." Take the case 
 of the man who absolutely shuts himself off from 
 temptation such as the hermit, who lives in a 
 cave on diet of herbs and spring water. He has 
 possibly much inward gratification, and a feeling 
 that he is better than the rest of mankind ; but is he 
 useful to his fellow man? The very conditions he 
 has imposed upon himself make him unable to set a 
 good example of moderation, since there can be no 
 moderation where there is no temptation. It may 
 take a lifetime of struggle against the besetting 
 sins; days, weeks, months, and years of prayers to 
 God for guidance and help to overcome the 
 
 6 
 
74 
 
 apparently irrepressible inclinations may be neces- 
 sary, but the Almighty and Merciful never fails those 
 of His children who unceasingly seek His direction 
 in times of trial and also in times of prosperity. 
 
 The strength of a man's character is chiefly 
 brought out by his trials and temptations, and his 
 generous and noble qualities are shown to greatest 
 perfection when, in the heyday of success and power, 
 he has opportunities of showing mercy and forgive- 
 ness. A soft heart is not the only thing to be de- 
 sired by a good citizen and soldier of God. No one 
 who has not experienced the vicissitudes of life seen 
 poverty and affluence, misery and happiness, weak- 
 ness and strength can presume to pose as an 
 example to mankind. You cannot be a true teacher 
 of patience unless you have passed through a time of 
 irritation, pain, or worry, necessitating the exercise 
 of patience. Affliction alone will bring out the 
 highest qualities in a man who has the love of God 
 in his heart. To such an afflicted mortal every 
 reverse of fortune, every heavy blow possibly cut- 
 ting him to the heart is looked upon by him as the 
 chastening of the God of Mercy. The harder the 
 blow the deeper the reverence and contrition of the 
 true believer, .who thus knows that his Almighty 
 and Omnipotent Protector is leading him in the 
 straight path. He trusts in the infinite wisdom, in- 
 finite love, and infinite compassion, of his only 
 guide in this world. He know T s that his Creator is 
 well aware that he hates and detests the devil and 
 all his miserable devices, and that knowledge alone 
 is sufficient to brace his energies for any struggle, 
 however severe ; because he can rely upon God's 
 help in any situation which may arise. The very 
 thought of the Almighty, Glorious, and Merciful 
 Presence of God, Whose Holy Name should not, I 
 think, be ever mentioned in the same breath with 
 
5 
 
 any other name, must give to the loving believer a 
 confidence beyond human understanding. 
 
 All the Holy Prophets, at various times charged 
 with messages to mankind, have faithfully carried out 
 God's instructions and, of all these Divine Messen- 
 gers , there is not one who can be placed in a higher 
 position than the Divinely inspired Mahomet (God's 
 choicest blessings on his memory). Loss of self- 
 control was shown on various occasions by Moses 
 and Christ, whilst the terrible shortcomings of David 
 would have been utterly impossible to the great 
 Prophet of Arabia, whose chivalrous nature would 
 have shrunk from any mean or despicable action. 
 
 It will be understood that forgiveness can be only 
 properly realized by one who has been practically 
 helpless in the hands of enemies, so that he may 
 appreciate the circumstances attendant on being at 
 the mercy of others. Then he must also understand 
 what it is to be a conqueror, and have the power of 
 wreaking his vengeance on those enemies. No one 
 can claim the quality of mercy who has never had 
 anyone at his mercy, and there is no character in 
 history which can be so safely held up for inspection 
 and illustration of this particular quality as the Holy 
 Prophet Mahomet. 
 
 From being in most humble circumstances, and 
 starting life as an orphan, but with God's protect- 
 ing arms ever around him, he passed through the 
 different stages of life allotted to him with beautiful 
 resignation to God's Will. No mean or sordid action 
 ever sullied his sweet character. No act of injustice 
 was ever laid to His charge. The words of a 
 favourite hymn come to my mind whenever I think 
 of the struggles and conquests of Mahomet : 
 
 ' Fight the good fight with all thy might, 
 God is thy strength, and God thy right ; 
 
7 6 
 
 Lay hold on life, and it shall be 
 Thy joy and crown eternally. 
 
 "Kun the straight race through God's good 
 
 grace, 
 
 Lift up thine eyes, and seek His Face ; 
 Life with its way before us lies, 
 God is the path and God the prize. 
 
 " Cast care aside, lean on thy Guide ; 
 His boundless mercy will provide ; 
 Trust, and thy trusting soul shall prove 
 God is its life, and God its love. 
 
 " Faint not nor fear, His arms are near, 
 He changeth not, and thou art dear; 
 Only believe, and thou shalt see 
 That God is all in all to thee," 
 
 In " Hymns Ancient and Modern " these particu- 
 larly beautiful verses occur ; but with the name of 
 Christ instead of God. Wherever " Christ " occurs 
 I have substituted "God," so that I appeal to rny 
 own conscience successfully, and do not hurt the 
 feelings of those who composed the hymn , since they 
 themselves say that Christ was God. 
 
 We may regard the Holy Prophet of Arabia as a 
 real character a real personality, who at every 
 step was tried and weighed, but was never found 
 wanting. As a great authority has said, we jieed a 
 perfect model up to our needs in several walks of 
 life, and the life of the Sacred Prophet eloquently 
 promises it in itself. " The life of Mahomet is just 
 like a mirror before us, where different characters of 
 high-mindedness, generosity, bravery, patience, 
 meekness, forgiveness, and other essential con- 
 stituents of humanity reflect in most brilliant 
 colours. Take any phase of morality, and you are 
 
77 
 
 sure to find it illustrated in some incident in his 
 eventful life. Jesus meekly bore the hardest 
 hour of his life, and how noble of him to 
 say while at the Cross: "Father, forgive them, 
 for they know not what they do." The 
 Sacred Prophet had to repeat the same thing 
 on many a time, thoug'h with slight change, as his 
 life was full of hard trials. For full thirteen years 
 he remains subject to a long series of persecution of 
 variegated nature. He is tortured physically and 
 mentally ; but he is always prayerful for the welfare 
 of his persecutor. He once went to Taif , a place at 
 some distance from Mecca, and preached against 
 idolatry. The idolators drove him out of the city. 
 The rabble and the slaves followed, hooting and pelt- 
 ing him with stones until the evening. Wounded 
 and bleeding, footsore and weary, he betook himself 
 to prayer. And the following words found utterance 
 in a moment of deep distress :- 
 
 ' Lord, 1 make my complaint unto Thee. 
 Out of my feebleness and the vanity of my 
 wishes I am insignificant in the sight of men, 
 Thou Most Merciful! Lord of the weak, Thou 
 art my Lord. Forsake me not. Leave me not a 
 prey to strangers nor to mine enemies. If Thou 
 art not offended, I am safe. I seek refuge in the 
 light of Thy countennce by which all darkness 
 is dispelled and peace cometh in the near and 
 hereafter. Solve Thou my difficulties as it 
 pleaseth Thee. There is no power, no strength, 
 save in Thee. Guide them to right path, as they 
 do not know what they do." 
 
 Noble words and worthy of the noble speaker. 
 Conscious of the insignificance he has been reduced 
 to, and yet such splendid reliance on God. 'If 
 You are not offended, I am safe." How hopeful, 
 
78 
 
 not the slightest tinge of despondency, no complaint, 
 no doubt as to his being forsaken by God. " Solve 
 Thou my difficulties as it pleaseth Thee," is another 
 beautiful expression eloquent enough to enlighten a 
 narrow-minded Church missionary who ignorantly 
 harps on the uniqueness of "Thy will, and not 
 
 mine.' 
 
 A propagandist, however, fails to see one thing. 
 He finds similarity of expression and loses his 
 balance of mind. He has only one silly explanation 
 to suggest. With him it is a sort of plagiarism ; 
 and Mahomet, being after Jesus, must be condemned 
 for his literary purloining. If this is the logic 
 which he advances, so much the worse for him; he 
 is the loser in the long run. The Jews have been 
 able to trace almost all the expressions and teachings 
 of Jesus to their own literature. Besides, many 
 parables narrated in the New Testament existed in 
 Bhuddist literature long before the advent of Christ. 
 Is the whole Gospel record a theft? It is on such 
 stupid reasoning that Sale had the audacity to call 
 the Quran " a manifest forgery." But the explana- 
 tion is not far to seek. All these prophets came 
 from one God, they drank from one Divine foun- 
 tain, and learnt one and the same lesson from one 
 Great Teacher the Creator of the Universe and 
 hence this similarity. They speak under Divine in- 
 spiration, and their w r ords sometimes convey mean- 
 ings which speak of future events in their life. To 
 illustrate it we need only refer to the noble words 
 spoken by Jesus, and compare them with the con- 
 cluding portion of the prayer by the Prophet : 
 
 ' Forgive them, for they know not what they 
 do." JESUS. 
 
 ' Guide them in the right path, for they know 
 not what they do." MAHOMET. 
 
79 
 
 Words suiting the circumstances of the speakers 
 respectively, and coming events proved their truth. 
 One had no chance of gaining that power over his 
 enemies in his lifetime, which could enable him to 
 show his magnanimity of soul in the form of for- 
 giveness. He therefore implores God to do so. The 
 other had to reach that climax, He had to forgive 
 them himself. It was. so within the knowledge of 
 God. Besides, the w 7 ords inspired on the lips of the 
 Prophet are more comprehensive. They go further 
 and include forgiveness in them. Forgiveness is 
 only for the things past. Guidance to righteousness 
 is for the past as well as for the future, because no 
 one can tread the path of righteousness with his past 
 sins unforgiven. So the Holy Prophet not only 
 implores for the forgiveness of past deeds, but for 
 their future righteousness as well. The words were 
 prophetic, and proved to be so. Mahomet came to 
 his full power. His oppressors came to him and 
 received such kind treatment as was unparalleled. 
 This led to their conversion and purity of life." 
 
 As an example of the chivalrous and open-hearted 
 conduct towards the unfortunate, or those enemies 
 who fell into his hands, I must quote a short story 
 which appeared in a recent number of the ' ' Islamic 
 Eeview " relative to Mahomet's treatment of a cap- 
 tive Christian lady who appeared, amongst other 
 prisoners of war, before the Lord of Arabia. From 
 this account we learn that his amazingly untiring 
 zeal to stamp out idolatry from his country roused 
 terrible opposition against the founder of Islam. No 
 Arab tribe was without its idol , and to vindicate and 
 protect the honour of their image-god every clan rose 
 in war. This occurred when the Prophet was at 
 Medina. In fact he had to pass here harder days 
 than those at Mecca. Invaded on all sides by his 
 enemies, he had everv now and then to take the 
 
8o 
 
 field, or to send men to meet aggression. Sometimes 
 victorious, sometimes defeated, every incident 
 created an appropriate occasion for the noble Prophet 
 to manifest different phases of his grand character. 
 One has simply to digest and codify them and the 
 world will find in them laws and rules of war more 
 humane and appropriate than could ever be imagined 
 by the promoters of the Hague Conference. Never 
 a sword was drawn but as a last resort to defend 
 human life. Islam may be slandered for the use of 
 the sword in propagating religion , but even its most 
 hostile critics have absolutely failed to lay their 
 finger even on one instance where war resulted in 
 individual or tribal conversion to Islam. These 
 battles no doubt, in one way, proved useful in this 
 direction. They caused the revelation of that 
 nobility of character in Mahomet which won the 
 hearts of his countrymen, and was more effectual 
 in proselytization than any form of compul- 
 sion. That noble treatment w T hich the defeated re- 
 ceived at the hands of the Prophet worked wonders. 
 Never a suppliant came but he got more than he 
 deserved or desired. The following incident occurred 
 after the defeat of the clan of Tay, which went a 
 long w T ay to bring the whole tribe to Islam within a 
 short time. Among the prisoners who came before 
 the Prophet was a band of respectable Christian 
 women, led by the daughter of a widely-famed 
 Christian philanthropist , whose generosity even now 
 is proverbial in the East, and who is known 
 as Hatim, the generous. When the Lord of the 
 Faithful came to know of her lineage, he showed her 
 every respect. He addressed her courteously, and 
 informed her that the generosity of her father called 
 for the tender treatment of his daughter. " God 
 loves those that are kind to His creatures." Islam, 
 said the Prophet, aims at inculcating the higher 
 
8i 
 
 virtues, and consequently it must recognize them 
 wherever they exist. A world of joy and ecstasy 
 dawned upon the lady when thus addressed cour- 
 teously. She found the conqueror free from arro- 
 gance, extremely kind and affable, w T ho immediately 
 ordered her release. Emboldened by the saintly 
 appearance and kind treatment of her liberator, her 
 self-sacrificing spirit came to the rescue of her fellow- 
 prisoners ; she refused to accept the favour if the 
 women of her community, with whom she had 
 shared captivity, should continue to be State pri- 
 soners. The daughter was worthy her noble descent 
 from Hatim, and her self-abnegation could not go 
 unrewarded, especially at the hand of Mahomet, 
 who always proved more than a match for the noble- 
 ness shown by others. She felt transported with 
 joy, and invoked a long prayer upon the head of her 
 noble deliverer, who, at her intercession, liberated 
 all her companions. The whole company was given 
 leave very soon, and they were despatched to their 
 town under a trustworthy escort. 
 
 The lady, who went by the name of Safana, sent 
 for her fugitive brother Uddi, and related the whole 
 story to him and advised him to visit her benefactor, 
 the Prophet. Uddi came to see Mahomet, and found 
 him more than a worldly prince. He studied Islam, 
 and found it a science of theology to all appearance. 
 In it he found a succinct treatment of all spiritual 
 problems which used to trouble him before. The 
 book of Islam provided him with a host of illustra- 
 tions for inductions and deductions, and furnished 
 everything that had any bearing on the edification 
 of the soul. He embraced Islam after some months, 
 and with him his clan. 
 
 Many such events enrich the life of the Prophet. 
 He never tried to exercise his power to convert his 
 prisoners, for he followed his instructions, "Let 
 there be no compulsion (no violence) in Religion." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 FEAE. 
 
 You may run up and down the gamut of human fail- 
 ings and find no single attribute which is responsible 
 for so much sorrow and disaster. It would seem 
 that in true Eeligion there is absolute necessity for 
 fearlessness. Do not fear Man, or the Devil. All 
 you have to fear is doing what you know God does 
 not like. It seems to me, as a plain man and careful 
 observer, that nearly all the so-called Christian 
 religion is built up on the foundation of a purely 
 imaginary idea that there is a very hot place waiting 
 for you if you don't look at things in a particular 
 way i.e., through the spectacles of those who have 
 from time to time, and for motives best known to 
 themselves, laid down certain laws as to rewards and 
 punishments. If you do so-and-so, believe in me and 
 my interpretations of Divine wishes, you will go to 
 heaven ; but, if not, if you dare to think for yourself, 
 you will fall into the hands of an angry God who 
 will subject you to everlasting damnation. What 
 a dreadful creed. God Almighty is thus credited 
 with the failings of an insatiable monster ready to 
 burn in hell-fire the creatures made in His image 
 simply because they don't or cannot follow the dog- 
 matic teachings of certain sects of the so-called 
 Christian Church? I say "so-called' advisedly, 
 because I do not consider that the Christianity of our 
 dear Lord Jesus Christ is at all represented by the 
 Church of Rome or the Protestant Church. Hun- 
 dreds of years after Christ the dogmas and sacer- 
 
83 
 
 dotal practices became flaringly prominent, and then 
 the Great Prophet of Arabia was given his mission 
 against idolatry. His mission had wonderful re- 
 sults, and the Mahomedan faith in its simplicity 
 and goodness spread from Persia to the Atlantic 
 Ocean. Then some centuries later Martin Luther 
 appeared, and endeavoured to sweep away the idola- 
 tries for they are nothing less of the then so- 
 called Christian Church. He partially succeeded in 
 his mission, and the Eeformed Church no doubt was 
 a great advance on the Romish Church ; but it did 
 not go far enough, and to-day we find that, though 
 the Prophet Mahomet from the South and Martin 
 Luther from the North made such strenuous efforts 
 to do away with Sacerdotalism, the evils remained, 
 and they remain to this very day. 
 
 I trust I may be excused for bringing in the fol- 
 lowing lines, because they seem rather frivolous 
 when we are on such an intensely serious subject, 
 but perhaps they explain the situation fairly well. 
 A certain man was walking along a street when he 
 met a gentleman attired in black with a white cleri- 
 cal collar and tie. He said to the clerical one, " Oh, 
 can you tell me something about religion? ' " Oh 
 yes, my friend, I can; verily you can only rightly 
 believe in the truth of Hokey Pokey Whisky Bung. 
 If you really believe this you wdll be saved." The 
 inquirer after truth thanked his informant and said, 
 ' I don't feel quite sure about it ; it's good of you 
 to tell me. I will think it over." He then walked 
 on, and further down the street met another gentle- 
 man attired in similar garments, and put the ques- 
 tion to him, also mentioning the fact that he had 
 heard that " Hokey Pokey Whisky Bung " was cer- 
 tain to lead to the better land. The cleric number 
 two held up his hands in horror and amazement, 
 and said, " Oh, my poor friend, you are being led 
 
8 4 
 
 in the path which leadeth to destruction if you follow 
 H.P.W.B. ; it is altogether wrong, and probably, 
 instigated by the Evil One : there is but one really 
 safe path which you may tread to heaven, and that 
 is Hikey Pikey Sikey Krikey. In this there is cer- 
 tain salvation. I will tell you all about it if you will 
 give me a good living, a comfortable income, and a 
 bit of land on which to build a church. But, my 
 dear Christian friend, if you don't believe in 
 H.P.S.K., you will infallibly be burnt for ever in 
 hell fire." The anxious one walked a little further 
 on and met yet another man attired like the others 
 in decent black with tie and collar, and asked him 
 about the correct thing in beliefs ; but this one gave 
 him such a pitiful account of sitting on clouds with 
 harps and unpleasant companions that he said, in 
 desperation, " Well, religious experts differ so much 
 that, as a layman, I am utterly bewildered and know 
 not what to believe." Now, though this may seem 
 flippant, it is not really so, for I want to 
 show that the religion which depends upon the 
 devices and imaginings of man is a poor thing 
 and not worth cultivating. What is a religion based 
 on fear of punishment worth? Absolutely nothing. 
 What a debasing thought it is to imagine that the God 
 of Mercy is for ever looking out for a chance of 
 punishing us. The love of God, the recognition of 
 His infinite goodness and the fear of ever doing any- 
 thing wrong or deceitful or mean ought to be 
 enough. What do I care about hell fire or any 
 other fire if God is with me? 
 
 Whilst on the subject of "Fear," I must not omit 
 to reprint a curious letter I received from a gentle- 
 man whose ideas concerning the future must keep 
 him in a continual state of terror it will be 
 observed that he calls me a "guilty sinner," and 
 the question of how a "sinner" can be anything 
 
but "guilty," or how a guilty person can be any- 
 thing but a sinner, must be left for those ingenious 
 persons who make a study of the solution of enigmas 
 of the obviously simple class. There is a strong 
 comic vein in my nature, and it is so strong at 
 times that it leads to my annoying, whilst harm- 
 lessly amusing, my friends; and, in the spirit of 
 comedy, I cannot resist the temptation of publish- 
 ing the following letter from a gentleman I do not 
 know, but who appears to know me. 
 
 "December 6, 1913. 
 " To the Et. Hon. Baron Headley. 
 
 " My Lord, I trust your lordship will par- 
 don my writing to you, but seeing your name 
 in the paper as one who has become a convert 
 to Islamism, I have prayed about it, and feel 
 compelled to draw your attention to the main 
 fact of religion, and it is this : You and I and 
 everyone are sinners God is Holy. Now, how 
 can you, a guilty sinner, be happy and at home 
 with a Holy God ? 
 
 ' Until this question is answered I do not see 
 any reason or sense in entering into any other 
 question other questions only divert the mind 
 from the main issue. 
 
 ' If I can in any way help you to answ T er 
 this question, so that you will know how you 
 can be happy and at home with a Holy God, 
 I shall only be too pleased. With many 
 prayers, yours very sincerely, 
 
 ARTHUR EGBERTS, M.D. 
 
 'P.S. Kindly read through the Gospel of 
 John at one sitting as you would any other 
 book. Do this twelve times." 
 
86 
 
 To this remarkable letter I sent the following 
 reply : 
 
 December 20, 1913. 
 
 1 'Dear Sir, I have only just received your 
 letter of the 6th inst., which was sent to the 
 wrong address. 
 
 " With regard to ' guilty sinners,' I must ask 
 you to speak for yourself if you are one such 
 unfortunate, and associate with others like 
 yourself, pray allow me to inform you that I 
 am not particularly guilty, and I don't like be- 
 ing with ' guilty sinners ' at any time I avoid 
 them carefully. 
 
 "My faith in my dear and merciful Creator 
 is so boundless that I hardly like to speak of it ; 
 but I can assure you that I never take any step 
 or perform the smallest duty of life without 
 looking to God for aid and guidance. God is 
 ever -with me Allah-o-Akbar and He knows 
 that I try hard to do my duty to Him and to 
 all my fellow-creatures. 
 
 ' I was not ' born in sin ' ; I am not a ' child 
 of wrath,' and my father and mother did no sin 
 in bringing me into the world. 
 
 ' I have often read all the Gospels, but can- 
 not now promise even to please you to read 
 the Gospel of St. John twelve times at one 
 sitting, as I am a busy man. Faithfully yours, 
 
 "HEADLBY." 
 ' To Arthur Eoberts, Esq., M.D." 
 
 If Mr. Arthur Eoberts only knew how happy I 
 feel since I have shaken off even the last pretence 
 of idolatry and superstition he would himself long 
 to embrace Islam and understand the happiness and 
 blessedness of being at one with God. 
 
87 
 
 I trust I am not transgressing any rules of pro- 
 priety in reproducing these letters, which were, I 
 take it, never intended to be private. Two more 
 letters passed between us, and the correspondence 
 then ceased. It is, of course, impossible to argue 
 with a man unless there is a distinct understanding 
 as to the premises and, since the fundamental ideas 
 held by the gentleman whose letter appears above 
 are quite different to my own , nothing could come of 
 a continuance of the discussion between us. 
 
 I believe that human beings are born sinless, but 
 that, as time goes on, they are more or less led 
 astray by their surroundings, and fall into all kinds 
 of error and sin, from which nothing but the love 
 of God can save them. 
 
 Whenever the almighty power of God and His 
 love for mankind have been truly revealed to a man 
 his love for doing right comes before all other de- 
 sires. Such a man will not be able to at once 
 subdue all his failings and sins, but the taste for 
 that which is perfect will gradually awake in him 
 a dislike of all that is wrong and contrary to God's 
 wishes. Throughout the whole of life the battle 
 must go on, and even when Satan seems to prevail 
 for a short season \ve must not be downhearted but 
 still look to God for assistance. As time goes on the 
 onslaughts of the Evil One become less effective till, 
 in the end, they will be more easily resisted, but it 
 will not do to neglect our prayers for guidance and 
 strength from on High. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 LAW AND OEDEE. 
 
 IT is not so well known as it should be that the 
 Muslim subjects of His Majesty are the most loyal 
 -supporters of the Crown and Constitution. The 
 chief reason for this is that we are forbidden by 
 the Koran to take part in any rebellious or seditious 
 movements, and I think I cannot do better than 
 quote in extenso a very able lecture delivered by 
 Khwaja Kamalud Din, in Lahore, about two years 
 ago. The Khwaja's text was : 
 
 " MUSLIM ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE 
 POWERS THAT BE." 
 
 Having discussed the uses of, and the principles 
 underlying, the various Islamic institutions, the lec- 
 turer drew the attention of the audience to the Friday 
 prayer and the sermon delivered on the occasion. He 
 declared the Friday prayer and sermon to be so im- 
 portant an institution that if its significance was 
 fully realised by a Muslim, and if the great lesson 
 which it embodied was taken to heart by him, he 
 would not only become a good citizen but also a 
 most devoted subject of the government under which 
 he was placed. The lecturer said 
 
 Though the real significance of the Friday service 
 is gradually being lost sight of, yet it is gratifying to 
 note that our Mania wies have not forgotten the verse 
 w r hich the Holy Prophet (may peace and the bless- 
 ings of God be upon him) made a point of reciting 
 every Friday in his sermon from the pulpit and 
 
8 9 
 
 which is consequently recited to this day. The verse 
 runs thus 
 
 u 
 
 "Verily God enjoineth justice, the doing of good, 
 and the giving unto kindred ; and He forbiddeth 
 immorality, wrong, and revolt." (xvi., 92.) 
 
 In this verse the believers are commanded to do 
 three things and to abstain from three things. They 
 are bidden, firstly, to deal by one another 
 with justice ; secondly, to show active kindness to 
 others, and, thirdly, to love others as one loves those 
 that are united to him by the close ties of blood. 
 Corresponding to these three deeds of virtue, there 
 are three acts from which he is bidden to refrain. 
 He is to shun all obscene and immoral deeds ; he is 
 not to infringe the rights of others or wrong them 
 in any way. As in our dealings with one another, 
 the best act is the bestowment of gifts upon our 
 kindred, similarly the greatest evil which upsets the 
 whole order of society is rising against the govern- 
 ment of the country. 
 
 My educated friends, both Muslims and non- 
 Muslims, you must have read many books on ethics 
 and civilization, and many learned and elaborate dis- 
 quisitions on sociology. You will have also known 
 
90 
 
 learned scholars discussing the ways by following 
 which men can live in peace with one another. But 
 I can assert with the surest certainty that you will 
 not find any parallel to the concise and comprehen- 
 sive way in which the Holy Quran has dealt with 
 this question in a single short verse. And one can- 
 not but admire the choice of this verse by the Holy 
 Prophet (may peace and the blessings of God be upon 
 him) for recital during Friday service, so that it is 
 now held as an indispensable part of the sermon that 
 is delivered every Friday from the pulpit. If the 
 whole world act upon this single verse, all troubles, 
 immoralities and crimes will at once disappear. Con- 
 sult the criminal and penal code of any country and 
 you w T ill find that all the laws therein are classifiable 
 under three heads. Firstly, there are the laws re- 
 lating to morals that pertain to an individual per- 
 sonally. The object of these laws is to check in- 
 dividuals from committing such evil deeds as affect 
 their own persons. Next come the laws which pro- 
 tect the rights of the members of a society in their 
 relation to one another. These rights pertain to 
 person, life and property. But these laws can never 
 be enforced unless there are other laws to protect 
 the rights and honour of the enforcers of those laws, 
 i.e., laws safeguarding the authority and prestige of 
 the government of the day. You will find by refer- 
 ence to the second part of the above verse that it 
 deals with the very three matters to which the afore- 
 said laws refer. The Holy Quran says, "He for- 
 biddeth immorality, wrong, and revolt." The first 
 thing forbidden is 
 
which signifies such evil deeds as pertain to the per- 
 sonal morals of a man. The next thing forbidden is 
 
 i.e., such acts as involve a wrong to our fellow 7 crea- 
 tures. Lastly we are commanded not to resist the 
 laws of the government which have been framed to 
 protect the rights of the subject people. The word 
 
 is a comprehensive term which not only includes the 
 sense of the word sedition, but also applies to all 
 those acts which are calculated to threaten the 
 stability of a government established by law in a 
 country. 
 
 One of the methods followed by the Holy Quran 
 is that, when it inculcates good deeds, it begins with 
 lowest virtues and then it proceeds to inculcate higher 
 and higher virtues by degrees. It follows the same 
 course in forbidding evil deeds. Tt takes the lesser 
 evils first and the greater evils afterwards. Thus an 
 evil that is put last must be held as the greatest evil. 
 It is this order that has been followed in the verse 
 in question. The Holy Quran first mentions that 
 evil the effect of which is limited to the doer him- 
 self. Then it forbids the evil which affects other 
 individuals of a society. Lastly comes the evil which 
 upsets the peace and order of the whole country. 
 This is the evil of rising in revolt against the govern- 
 ment of the country. 
 
 Such is the significance of the verse which is re- 
 garded as an indispensable part of the service held 
 every Friday. Can yon name any other book, re- 
 
92 
 
 ligion or society which has established an institution 
 that aims at enjoining upon its followers or members 
 the necessity of not only being personally moral but 
 also respecting the rights of others and of yielding 
 implicit obedience to the laws of the government of 
 the country ? Such an institution is found in Islam 
 and in no other religion or society. A community 
 the members of which are exhorted every seventh 
 day to abstain from disobedience to the laws of the 
 government, and to which sedition and dis- 
 obedience to the government are represented 
 as the greatest evil , does not stand in need 
 of any popular leader to exhort it to be loyal and 
 obedient to its rulers and to avoid the paths 
 of sedition and disobedience. No lectures need be 
 delivered and no mass meetings need be held to 
 enumerate before its members the benefits of the 
 government. Such a community may well dispense 
 with the services of distinguished personages to dis- 
 abuse their minds of seditious ideas. 
 
 While the latter half of the said verse forbids evils 
 which are calculated to disturb the peace of a society, 
 the former half inculcates virtues the observance of 
 which will make a society much better than even the 
 ideal society depicted in More's Utopia. The Holy 
 Quran says, " Verily God enjoineth justice, the 
 doing of good, and the giving unto the kindred. " 
 Here we are first of all required to be at least just, 
 i.e., we must give every man at least his due and 
 must return the kindness which others do to us. 
 Justice requires us to faithfully repay our obligations 
 to others. It must, however, be remembered that 
 mere justice, which requires us to give to others just 
 their due , cannot be classed with morals of the highest 
 type. It, on the other hand, stands lowest in the 
 scale of human morals. It is certainly inferior to 
 ihsan or beneficence. The former requires us only 
 
93 
 
 to return good for good while the latter includes all 
 those acts of kindness which are performed gratui- 
 tously. A beneficent being does good to others not 
 to repay any good done to him ; he does so spon- 
 taneously. But though the kindness done by a bene- 
 factor is gratuitous, yet he naturally expects from the 
 recipient of his favours at least a moral reward in the 
 form of gratitude. He wishes the person whom he 
 has done a good turn to feel thankful to him. He is 
 liable to be displeased if the other party prove to be 
 wanting in gratitude. Nay, he is even apt to remind 
 him of his good offices. If a benefactor yields to such 
 weakness, it does not matter much. But it is not 
 praiseworthy, either. If in the case of justice we 
 reciprocate the kindness of others, in the case of 
 Ihsan (beneficence) also we wish for a reward though 
 that reward be in the form of gratitude. But the 
 Holy Quran requires us to rise above this. It wants 
 us to banish from our minds all desire for reward or 
 gratitude. It bids us to do good to others even if 
 we have received no benefit from them, and even 
 when there is no hope of our ever being benefited 
 by them in the future. We are required to render 
 a good turn even to one whom we know to be lack- 
 ing in gratitude. We should show kindness to others 
 for kindness 's own sake without expecting any re- 
 ward or gratitude. And it is not impossible to do so. 
 Do not the parents show such kindness to children ? 
 Do not good men render truly magnanimous service 
 to their parents and other members of their families ? 
 It is for this reason that the Holy Quran describes 
 this highest form of kindness as " the giving unto the 
 kindred." It bids us not only to be just and benefi- 
 cent to others but also to love others as one loves 
 one's kinsmen. 
 
 ^ It should also be borne in mind that in the exer- 
 cise of these noble virtues we are strictly prohibited 
 
94 
 
 from making any distinction of creed or colour. The 
 least of the virtues inculcated in the said verse is 
 justice, and what God says of the lowest form of 
 virtue is, according to the usage of the Holy 
 Quran, more true of the higher forms. In 
 connection with justice God says, " Let not ill-will 
 against any people induce you to act unjustly ; act 
 justly, next will this be to the fear of God. And fear 
 ye God; verily God is apprised of what ye do." (v. 
 11.) Here the Muslims are enjoined to deal justly 
 even by those people that are inimical to them. No 
 amount of enmity and discord is to bar us from deal- 
 ing out justice to other people. 
 
 In short, the three stages of virtue described in the 
 verse in question are not restricted by any limita- 
 tions, and the Muslims are required to practise them 
 in their dealings with all people,. irrespective of caste 
 or creed. We are called upon to follow T the injunc- 
 tions embodied in the verse under discussion in our 
 dealings with every man that comes in contact with 
 us, be he a Muslim or a non-Muslim, a subordinate 
 or an officer, a ruler or a subject. We owe certain 
 duties to our rulers just as they owe certain duties to 
 us, and we are bound to observe justice in discharg- 
 ing our duties to them. If the rulers fulfil their duty 
 to the subject people, justice demands that the latter 
 also should acquit themselves of their obligations to 
 them. We cannot individually protect our lives and 
 property, and therefore it is necessary that 
 there should be an organization for the accom- 
 plishment of this object. Such an organization is 
 called government, and the duty that the government 
 ow^es to us is that it should frame and enforce proper 
 laws for the protection of our property, our lives and 
 our honour. Our duty to the government is that we 
 should respect the laws so framed and pay the 
 expenses which the government has to incur in the 
 
95 
 
 discharge of its duties. The money so paid is called 
 zakat, jizya, or tax. If we respect the laws of the 
 government and pay the legal taxes, we are not lay- 
 ing the government under any obligation. The gov- 
 ernment made laws for us and protected our lives, 
 property and honour. Thus it did us a good. We 
 return this good by respecting the laws and paying 
 the taxes, and, in doing so, we only obey the com- 
 mandment, " Verily God enjoins justice." But have 
 we done all that we were required to do ? The Holy 
 Quran requires us not to stop here, but to do more 
 than this. We should also practise Ihsan (benefi- 
 cence) in our relations with the government. The 
 mere paying of taxes or the observance of the laws is 
 not the highest virtue. We should share the burden 
 of our government, fly to its assistance when it is 
 confronted by difficulties, create facilities for it, chas- 
 tise its enemies, and volunteer our services when it 
 has to undertake great expeditions. If we do this, 
 we are practising Ihsan (beneficence) in relation to 
 the government, for these are things that lie not on 
 our heads as compulsory duties. 
 
 As for the British Government, I shall be guilty of 
 injustice if I do not point out here that while in the 
 case of an average government, the services of the 
 type mentioned above are not obligatory on the sub- 
 ject people, the British Government can justly claim 
 them as of right, for it is not satisfied with the bare 
 performance of its duty to its subject races, but has 
 laid them under a deep obligation by bestowing upon 
 them numerous favours which they could not claim 
 as their due. If you want to realize what the 
 British Government has done for the people of India , 
 just compare the condition of this country and the 
 development of its resources under the British rule 
 with its condition in the time of our former rulers. 
 How its lands have been turned into fruitful fields 
 
9 6 
 
 under the present administration. Think of the 
 great facilities and the numerous means of comfort 
 which the Government has provided for us. Con- 
 sider education alone. How great facilities has it 
 given the Indians to get themselves educated. The 
 Government has been kind to us, and something 
 must be done in return for this kindness. Our Holy 
 Prophet (upon whom be peace and the blessings of 
 God) said 
 
 " The reward of kindness is naught but kindness." 
 
 I have already said that the requirements of justice 
 in relation to a government are that the subject 
 people should respect its laws and pay the legal taxes. 
 But our beneficence in relation to a government 
 would be to take such steps as are conducive to its 
 stability, to assist in the realization of its aims, to 
 help it out of difficulties, and to stand by it in times 
 of danger. Though as far as mere justice is con- 
 cerned , we are not bound to provide all that a govern- 
 ment may need ; yet in order to be Muhsin (benefi- 
 cent) as the Holy Quran bids us to be, we must of our 
 own accord supply all its needs. There is no denying 
 the fact that under the present rule the Muslim com- 
 munity has produced men who have acted benefi- 
 cently towards the British Government. But as I 
 pointed out before, beneficence, though higher than 
 justice, is attended with a weakness, for the man 
 who does another person some good naturally desires 
 for gratitude from the beneficiary. Hence it is not at 
 all surprising, nor very objectionable, if those who 
 render the State some service should wish for a 
 recognition of their service by the Government. It 
 
97 
 
 is but natural for them to do so. The gratitude of 
 the Government finds its expression in various forms. 
 Titles, honours, estates, membership of councils, etc. ? 
 are the various tokens by which the Government 
 shows its recognition of the services rendered by its 
 loyal and devoted subjects. I do not find fault with 
 this, for a person naturally desires that his exertions 
 in a good cause should meet with recognition. This 
 desire also serves as a stimulus for the performance 
 of many a noble and worthy deed. But the Holy 
 Quran requires us to rise higher than this. We are 
 not only to practise adl (justice) and Ihsan (benefi- 
 cence) but also Ita-i-zil Qurba, i.e., showing that 
 pure form of kindness which one shows to one's 
 kinsmen. This is the highest form of good which is 
 done without wishing for or expecting any kind of 
 reward or recognition. When a mother, for instance, 
 lavishes her tender care on her child, she does not do 
 so out of any desire for reward or recognition. Hers 
 is a natural love which flows out spontaneously. We 
 will be practising this highest and most unselfish 
 form of virtue in relation to the Government if we 
 render it services even without its knowledge and 
 without looking for any reward from it. Hence in 
 order to be a Muslim in the truest sense of the word, 
 we should render service to the Government even 
 when it does not know it, and should banish from 
 our minds all desire for requital, recognition or grati- 
 tude. Our only consideration in serving the Govern- 
 ment should be that as God has, out of His wisdom, 
 placed us under it, and has entrusted to its care our 
 properties, our lives and our honour, therefore it 
 behoves us to take such measures as conduce to its 
 stability and welfare, without caring to let the Gov- 
 ernment know of them and without cherishing any 
 desire for reward or recognition. This is the highest 
 moral as far as our treatment of our fellow beings is 
 
9 8 
 
 concerned, and it is not impossible to come up to 
 this high ideal. If it had been impossible to prac- 
 tise this virtue, it would not have been enjoined in 
 the Holy Quran, which unlike other books gives only 
 such directions as are practicable. I know of many 
 illustrious personages whose behaviour towards the 
 British Government has been marked not merely by 
 adl (justice) and ihsan (beneficence) but also by the 
 higher moral which the Holy Quran describes as 
 
 i.e., that form of kindness which one shows 
 to one's kinsmen. The most conspicuous example 
 among them was the late Mirza Ghulam Ahmad 
 the Promised Messiah. He, not in the troubled 
 days of 1907, when many were loud in their 
 expressions of loyalty, but so far back as the year 
 1882, perceived through his superhuman discern- 
 ment, that certain people of this country had 
 seditious tendencies which manifested themselves in 
 a visible form in the last few years. From that time 
 to the last moments of his life he continued to enjoin 
 upon his co-religionists sincere loyalty to the British 
 Crown and to urge them to abstain from all seditious 
 ideas and practices. He published a very large num- 
 ber of books and pamphlets during this period, and 
 in most, if not all, of his writings he laid great em- 
 phasis on this point. These repeated and emphatic 
 injunctions of his were regarded by some as mis- 
 timed vigilance, and were ascribed by others to 
 flattery, until at last, in the year 1905, there came 
 into existence a state of things which opened the 
 eyes of all Muslims, and then they all did those very 
 things which they had hitherto been holding as flat- 
 
99 
 
 tery. Some of them went so far as to do even such 
 things as are not permitted by the law of Islam. For 
 instance, at the death of King Edward VII., it was 
 proposed to hold the service of Janaza, w^hich is 
 allowed only for the Muslims. Whatever our sacred 
 leader, the late Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, did in the 
 interests of the British Government, he did not do 
 out of any desire for reward. He asked for no titles 
 from the Government. He sought no honour from 
 it. He never went to any high official to make a 
 display of the good services he was rendering to the 
 Government, nor did he ever send any emissary to 
 do that work for him. If he ever spoke of the ser- 
 vice he had rendered to the Government, it was only 
 in self-defence, i.e., to refute the charges w 7 hich 
 were sometimes brought against him by his malicious 
 opponents. He wrote some books in Arabic and 
 Persian in wiiich he dwelt -upon the blessings of the 
 British rule and declared Jehad against the British 
 nation to be illegal. These books w r ere sent by him 
 to Egypt, Turkey, Persia, and even Afghanistan. 
 The service which he thus rendered to the British 
 Government was of the class designated by the Holy 
 Quran as 
 
 i.e., that kind of good which one does to one's kins- 
 men. This was a service which the Government 
 never even dreamed of. 
 
 The example of the revered founder of the Ahma- 
 diyya movement makes it abundantly clear that it is 
 quite possible for one to practise in relation to the 
 Government that kind of goodness which the Holy 
 Quran styles as kindness which one shows to one's 
 
IOO 
 
 kindred. The Holy Quran bids us to do good to 
 others without looking for any return from 
 the party benefited. But we have fallen so 
 short of the high ideal set before us in the 
 above and other verses of the Holy Quran 
 that we are always seeking for opportunities to bring 
 our services to the notice of the Government. How- 
 ever insignificant our service may be, we do not hesi- 
 tate to represent it as a splendid piece of public ser- 
 vice. We are so fond of display, that even when 
 there is no real occasion for obliging the Govern- 
 ment, we create fictitious ones. We have taken for 
 granted that the Government is afraid of agitation 
 and political unrest. Hence even if there is no real 
 unrest or disaffection , when w r e bethink ourselves of 
 laying the Government under an obligation, or have 
 some private purpose to fulfil, all that we have to do 
 is to go to a high official with the alarming report 
 that a riot is about to occur in the city, or that a 
 section of our community cherishes seditious ideas, 
 that such and such association of ours has relations 
 with a foreign Muslim ruler, say the Amir of Kabul, 
 that the students of such and such college of ours 
 advocate the policy of the Indian National Congress 
 or that certain influential members of our community 
 and these are men against whom we cherish a per- 
 sonal grudge are intriguing with the members of 
 a non-Muslim community who have unfortunately 
 come under the suspicion of the Government on 
 account of their seditious or revolutionary tenden- 
 cies. Our object in making these fictitious reports is 
 no other than to alarm the Government, and when 
 we find that our trick has been successful, the next 
 thing that we have to do is to take upon ourselves 
 the responsibility of averting the imaginary danger. 
 A few days after we inform the Government that the 
 mischief has been nipped in the bud and that now 
 
101 
 
 our community has returned to the original state. 
 Generally we follow this course with two objects in 
 view. Firstly we seek the ruin of our enemy whom 
 we falsely accuse of being hostile to the Government, 
 and secondly we try to pave our way for greater 
 honours by laying the Government under an obliga- 
 tion. By so doing we are guilty not only of decep- 
 tion and falsehood, but also of a much graver offence, 
 of which w r e are perhaps unconscious. We play the 
 traitor to our community. We betray an innocent 
 and loyal community whose loyalty is not based on 
 worldly motives, but has its fountain-head in the 
 teachings of its sacred book and in the precepts of 
 its Holy Prophet. We try to gain our selfish ends 
 at the sacrifice of our community. 
 
 Friends, is it an imaginary tale that I am telling 
 you, or is it based on facts? I wish it were all 
 imaginary. God alone knows the secrets of 
 the hearts, and to Him alone are known all hidden 
 things. But if the information which I have been 
 receiving from very reliable sources, since 1907, is 
 correct, then it is clear that certain members of our 
 community have often been acting the traitor. 
 
 Call to your mind the time of 1907. That year I 
 happened to go once to the railway station at mid- 
 night. To my surprise I found the platform crowded 
 with families of European gentlemen. They were 
 walking up and down the platform, and it so 
 appeared that they were waiting for some ill news 
 and were ready to take train and go to a place of 
 safety as soon as the news was received. You will 
 remember the sight witnessed at Lahore on the day 
 when Lala Lajpat Eai was deported. You remember 
 the arrival of artillery and the parade of troops in 
 the city, which showed that the Government feared 
 a rising in the city or in the mofussil, and that it 
 was taking precautionary steps to prevent it. 
 
102 
 
 I often said to myself those clays, that even if it 
 were that our Hindu brethren had become disloyal 
 to the Government, though such a supposition was 
 not consistent with facts, seeing that those who in- 
 cited the audience in the Bharat Mata could be 
 counted by tens, and those who were influenced by 
 such harangues were not more than a few hundreds, 
 while there must have been thousands of Hindus 
 who had no sympathy with the malcontents ; but- 
 even if it were conceded that the greater portion of 
 Hindu community had turned against the Govern- 
 ment, there w r as little ground for apprehension, when 
 there was the loyal Muslim community to stand by 
 their rulers in the time of danger. It was then 
 quite inexplicable to me why European head clerks 
 and other English gentlemen working in the Govern- 
 ment offices kept revolvers in their desks and in- 
 quired of Muslims w r hether they would keep aloof 
 from the Hindus, if the latter rose against their 
 European rulers. These are true facts. All this led 
 one to suspect that both the Hindus and the Muslims 
 were leagued against the Government. I thought 
 much, but in 1907 I could not see any ground for 
 such apprehensions. It might be because I have no 
 great aptitude for politics. But if what I heard 
 afterwards is correct, I hold that all these apprehen- 
 sions and precautions were just and proper. I am 
 told that certain gentlemen w r ho have made it their 
 business to curry favour with the Government re- 
 ported to the authorities that the Muslim community 
 also had fallen a prey to the w 7 iles of the Hindus, and 
 that both the communities were about to raise a 
 standard of revolt against the Government. It was 
 also hinted by the worthy informers that it was their 
 prestige and influence which was holding back the 
 Muslims from making a common cause with the 
 Hindus, and that if their influence were withdrawn 
 
103 
 
 their co-religionists would at once go over to their 
 non-Muslim neighbours and would bring about a 
 state of things which would endanger the very lives 
 of the Anglo-Indians and their families. If whole 
 familes of European gentlemen therefore hovered 
 about the railway station at midnight to flee to a 
 place of safety, it was a wise precaution under the 
 circumstances, and if the threatened junction of 
 Muslims with non-Muslims did not come to pass, this 
 fortunate circumstance was perhaps ascribed to the 
 influence exerted by the gentlemen who acted as 
 informers. 
 
 Ye thousands of men that are now assembled in 
 this meeting and that are the residents of this great 
 city ! T ask you w r hether any seditious spirit was to 
 be found in you in 1907, and whether you were so 
 disloyal and mean as to plot against the authorities? 
 Had you forgotten the teachings of the Holy Quran 
 with regard to obedience and loyalty? Had the verse 
 recited to you from pulpit every Friday faded from 
 your memory? If you were unable to practise the 
 two higher forms of virtue in relation to the Govern- 
 ment, viz., Ihsan (beneficence) and Ita-i-Zil Qurba 
 (showing the kindness w r hich one does to one's kin- 
 dred), could you not discharge even those duties to 
 the Government which justice demanded? If you 
 had become destitute of all virtue were you not at 
 least warned against disloyalty, every Friday? You 
 are Muslims, and no Muslim can be guilty of 
 treachery. You. are a believer, and no believer can 
 wish his rulers ill. You are the followers of the Holy 
 Quran, and the Holy Quran enjoins obedience to 
 authority upon its followers. God the Omniscient 
 knows that my heart was wrung with anguish when 
 T heard that the Muslim community was maliciously 
 represented to the Government as harbouring 
 seditious ideas. T heartilv wish that all that I had 
 
104 
 
 heard (from trustworthy sources) should turn out to 
 be untrue and unfounded. But if what I had heard 
 is true, then it was certainly a very evil course which 
 our friends adopted in order to creep into the good 
 graces of the authorities or to bring about the ruin 
 of their enemies. It was not betraying but killing 
 the Muslim community. Now, if the authorities 
 should discontinue the favours which they formerly 
 bestowed on us on account of our being a backward 
 community, and ask us to help ourselves as best we 
 can, they will be quite justified in doing so, for we 
 have been represented to them as a mean and 
 despicable people that ill deserve any favour. 
 
 God knows better how far the report says the 
 truth. But if alarming reports concerning the threa- 
 tened alliance of the Hindus and the Muslims 
 were really made to the high officials, and if the 
 reporters actually volunteered to exert their influence 
 to avert the alleged danger, and then won the favour 
 of the Government for nipping in the bud a con- 
 spiracy that had no real existence, the facts must be 
 well known to the authorities. Hence I deem it my 
 bounden duty to respectfully inform them that if such 
 reports were ever made they were false and slan- 
 derous. I believe that a person who is disobedient 
 to the authorities is not a Muslim. Millions of Mus- 
 salmans were totally unaware of the doings of the 
 year 1907. They never even dreamt of all that is 
 said to have been imputed to them. It is easy to test 
 the truth of my statement, and in this way. There 
 is hardly any part of India which has been free from 
 political agitation and intrigue during the past few 
 years. Anarchism manifested itself in various forms. 
 And all these parts had a large number of Mahome- 
 dans. East Bengal, some parts of which have been 
 the centres of political agitation, has more Mahome- 
 dans than Hindus. The number of the Mussal- 
 
mans living in the various parts of India is not so 
 small as to be subject to the influence of this in- 
 dividual or that. They number 70 millions, of whom 
 six millions and a half, I may say, do not know even 
 the names of the personages who thus claim to be 
 exerting their influence with the Muslin com- 
 munity. Why is it, then, that never a Muslim was 
 involved in any of the intrigues, riots, dacoities, 
 thefts and outrages, that have been the order of the 
 day during the past few years in every part of India? 
 If "this was due to the influence of certain self-styled 
 leaders, why is it that the influence of the Hindu 
 leaders did not produce the same effect on their Hindu 
 community? Are there no leaders among the 
 Hindus, or have all of them become hostile to Gov- 
 ernment? There must be thousands of distinguished 
 personages in the Hindu community that regard the 
 doings of their misguided brethren with horror, and 
 must be exerting their influence with members 
 of their community. HOW T was it, then, that the 
 Mussalmans of India have taken no part in any of 
 the proceedings against the British Government, 
 and the only persons responsible for them w r as, un- 
 fortunately, their non-Muslim brethren? Such has, 
 unfortunately, been the case, but in my opinion, 
 just as most of the respectable leaders of the Hindu 
 community cannot be blamed for the misconduct of 
 their brethren, similarly the leaders of the Mussal- 
 man community cannot claim any credit for the non- 
 participation of the Muslims in the political crimes 
 and agitation. It is Islam, and its Holy Founder 
 and, I may add, of the holy representatives of the 
 Holy Prophet that have been appearing among the 
 Muslims from time to time, that the credit is really 
 due for the admirable attitude of the Muslim com- 
 munity to their foreign rulers, and not to these self- 
 stvled leaders. 
 
io6 
 
 The Muslim community has, however, proved its 
 loyalty on many trying occasions. But it is not the 
 political leaders to whom thanks are due for this. 
 It is the lessons of obedience to authority given by 
 the Holy Founder of Islam (on whom be peace and 
 the blessings of God) that lie at the bottom of the 
 law-abiding character of the Muslim people. He was 
 so great an advocate of obedience to authority that he 
 said : 
 
 ' Listen and obey -even if a negro with a head 
 covered with abscesses is put in authority over you." 
 
 This saying of the Holy Prophet (may peace and 
 the blessings of God be upon him) is given in the 
 5a7ii7z Bukharce, a work of undisputed authority on 
 tradition. 
 
 Gentlemen, you are well aware that the negro has 
 unfortunately been so long subjected to slavery that 
 the words " negro " and " slave " have come to be 
 regarded as practically synonymous. But the Holy 
 Prophet (may peace and the blessings of God be upon 
 him), addressing a jealous people like the Arabs, 
 who were strangers to submission to foreign yoke, 
 said that even if chance placed them under a de- 
 formed negro, they must bear to him implicit 
 obedience. We are required to obey the authorities 
 even in things that are disagreeable to us, though w r e 
 are permitted to inform them respectfully of any 
 errors that they may commit. Dear friends, have 
 
you ever pondered over the almost mechanical way 
 in which a congregation of devout Muslims follow 
 the Imam (the man who leads the prayers) in every 
 one. of his movements and all of his postures? The 
 congregation may include learned scholars, eminent 
 theologians, men of wealth, and even a despotic 
 ruler ; they have no choice but to obey the Imam in 
 all his acts. It is not unoften that the Imam errs, 
 but we, in spite of being aware of his error, are not 
 allowed to swerve even a hair's breadth from the 
 course he follows. We are permitted to apprise him 
 of his error, but that is to be done in the most 
 admirable manner. When he is going to make a 
 mistake, we only say Subhan all alt (i.e., God is free 
 from all defects). But if he, in spite of this warn- 
 ing, follows his own course, we are required to obey 
 him even though we know him to be in the wrong. 
 Sometimes he does not know his mistake until he 
 finishes the prayer, and we have to follow him in 
 his mistaken course to the end. When he has ended 
 his prayer, he is informed of his error, and when 
 he has found out his mistake, he, together with the 
 congregation, makes amends for it in the way pre- 
 scribed. Herein there is an object lesson for the 
 Muslims. Their conduct towards their Amir or ruler 
 is to be modelled after their behaviour towards their 
 Imam , or leader in prayers. And this practical lesson 
 is given them not once or twice, but it is repeated 
 five times every day. They are taught to obey their 
 rulers in everything. If their rulers make any mis- 
 take, they may bring it to their notice in the most 
 respectful manner, but are not allowed to disobey 
 them even when they are in the wrong. The man 
 who is placed in authority over us may be of mean 
 or high extraction, he is to be obeyed under all 
 circumstances. Islam teaches us to give the authori- 
 ties good council freely when they need it, and io 
 
loS 
 
 respectfully point out any error which they may 
 happen to commit. 
 
 We cannot sufficiently praise the Holy Prophet 
 (on whom be peace and the blessings of God) who 
 during his life-time solved all those difficulties and 
 problems that were to confront us from time to time. 
 This has not been done by any other book or teacher. 
 Nay, I do not see any religion before Islam which 
 throws any light on the relations that ought to exist 
 between the rulers and the ruled, when they belong 
 to different nationalities. The reason of this seems 
 to be that at the time when most of the other religions 
 were born, the world had not seen times in which 
 one people were governed by another. But by the 
 time when Islam came into the world, this state of 
 things had come into existence. Besides, it was to 
 be the final religion of the world. No other book 
 was to come after it to supplement its teachings. 
 Hence, unlike all other religions, it offers the solu- 
 tion of all the difficulties that were to arise in times 
 to come. 
 
 The Prophet himself passed the early years of his 
 ministry under a crude form of tribal rule which was 
 a source of trouble to him in many respects, but 
 neither he nor his followers ever infringed any of the 
 laws or orders of that government. He and his fol- 
 lowers bore unbearable suffering and persecution, but 
 it cannot be proved that he ever got up a secret plot 
 against the then order of the society. When it was 
 rendered impossible for his companions to live peace- 
 fully at home he, instead of attempting to bring 
 about the extirpation of the tyrants by secret con- 
 spiracies, exhorted his followers to leave for a neigh- 
 bouring Christian Government and to live as the sub- 
 jects of a Christian king. During his latter days 
 he organized a republic of a very high order, the 
 meanest pattern of which can be met with in the 
 
109 
 
 democratic Government of the United States of 
 America. In short we, Muslims, have a perfect 
 model in the life of the Prophet (may peace and the 
 blessings of God be upon him) for living under every 
 form of Government. I have just said that the 
 Prophet (may peace and the blessings of God be 
 upon him) endured the persecution of the tribal mis- 
 rule, and when he found the trouble too unendur- 
 able for his companions, he sent away Usman witli 
 seventeen men, who set such a sublime and high 
 example of perfect obedience, true submission and 
 noble citizenship, that being influenced thereby, in 
 the course of time the entire dominion, including 
 the ruler and the ruled, embraced the holy faith of 
 Islam. This event teaches us a noble lesson of not 
 only living in peace and order under an alien rule, 
 but also of refraining from all secret plots and under- 
 hand conspiracies in case the tyranny of the rule 
 exceed all bounds and become absolutely unbearable. 
 What is allowable under such circumstances is that 
 we should bid farewell to the Government as the 
 Prophet (may peace and the blessings of God be 
 upon him) enjoined his followers to do. Thus, my 
 brethren in faith, if, God forbid, matters come to such 
 a pass that you be unable to abide by the laws of the 
 Government, for instance, if the Government should 
 stand in your way of performing religious obliga- 
 tions, or in any way interfere with your religious 
 freedom, or place any obstacle in the peaceful pro- 
 pagation of your faith, you have no right to rise, or 
 hatch a secret plot, against it, but what is proper 
 for you to do is to leave India for any other country. 
 But so long as you live under a government, it is 
 binding upon you, not as a matter of expediency or 
 time-serving policy but as a religious duty, to abide 
 by the government and the laws to the best of your 
 ability and the utmost of your capacity. 
 
I 10 
 
 Islam, your religion, has also forbidden you to 
 have anything to do \vith such government or nation 
 as may not be on good terms with your own govern- 
 ment, no matter the government or nation be your 
 co-religionists. For instance, if, God forbid, there 
 break out a war between our rulers and the Amir of 
 Afghanistan, it is entirely unlawful for a Muslim, 
 according to the religious code of Islam, to make any 
 overt or covert attempt to aid the Amir of Afghanis- 
 tan so long as he enjoys the protection of this Govern-' 
 mont. He, the Muslim, will be in duty bound to 
 shed his blood for his own Government. This is 
 what the Muslims have always done. In the last 
 Afghanistan expedition Muslim hosts were also sent, 
 and Muslim soldiers volunteered themselves to fight 
 against the Afridis. Should, however, a Muslim be 
 unable to bear such a war, and cannot do something 
 against his own Government, his action in this direc- 
 tion is looked upon by religion as nothng short of 
 revolt. He should leave the country, and thus throw 
 off the yoke of subjection. Then, and not till then, 
 he may do what he pleases. These are the immut- 
 able teachings of Islam which have the unmistak- 
 able support of the Holy Writ and the words and 
 deeds of the Prophet himself (may peace and the 
 blessings of God be upon him). These noble teach- 
 ings show beyond the least shadow of doubt that 
 Islam lends no countenance to any sort of revolution 
 or machination. You may get sick of your govern- 
 ment. Islam does not take it ill. You may have 
 reasonable grounds for so doing, but with all that 
 Islam does not permit you to conspire under- 
 handedly against your government. This is clear 
 perfidy, however cruel the rule may be. You may 
 openly quit the country to the knowledge of your 
 rulers, and then do as you like. 
 
 My friends, consider and do justice in the Name of 
 
1 1 1 
 
 God ! A nation which has nothing in its hand but 
 religion, a nation to whom that religion is the 
 dearest concern, even dearer than life and honour, a 
 nation which has clear and forcible injunctions from 
 that very religion for the maintenance of loyalty and 
 faithful attitude even towards a cruel ruler can such 
 a nation be possibly accused of disloyalty ? 
 
 The German and Italian clergy are attempting 
 wholesale destruction of Islam by spreading a sup- 
 posed terror under the name of Pan-Islamism. If 
 Pan-Islamism is understood to mean that all Mus- 
 lims living in different parts of the earth under dif- 
 ferent non-Muslim governments are unanimously 
 planning to overthrow the Christian empires, and 
 thus to renew r afresh the glory of Islam, it is a false- 
 hood w'hich has been made up by mischief -mongers. 
 At least, the Muslims of India have clean hands 
 about it. Whatever I have said, I have said on the 
 basis of the Holy Book and the traditions. Is it 
 not, therefore, sheer iniquity on my part to employ 
 for the glory of Islam such means as are condemned 
 by Islam itself? Religion is nothing but obedience 
 to certain commandments, it is therefore obligatory 
 on me as a follower of this religion to abide by, 
 among other things, the order relating to unques- 
 tioning submission to the Government and real 
 enmity with the enemies of the Government. It is 
 an odd inconsistency that in endeavouring to live in 
 the service of my religion, I should wantonly allow 
 myself to go against the express commandments of 
 it. This crooked logic cannot be conceived by a 
 Mahomedan brain, but possibly by the ingenious 
 brain of a German or an Italian Padri. 
 
 Consequently it must be said with all emphasis 
 in the interests of truth that anybody who takes 
 Pan-Islamism in the sense which some European 
 Churchmen are giving it. is not a Muslim in the true 
 
112 
 
 meaning of the term. But if Pan-lslamism means 
 that a Muslim should wish that all the human souls 
 living on earth may become Muslims, and accept 
 the truth of the Arabian Prophet, then I shall be the 
 first to be proud of my love for Pan-lslamism, and 
 for this I am prepared to undergo all punishment , for 
 love for Islam and dissemination of Islam has sunk 
 into my blood. I don't wish for any Islamic gov- 
 ernment nor desire any Islamic empire. What I do 
 long for is this, that whoever be the ruler, the whole 
 world may turn Muslim. When my ancestors under 
 Usman were able by dint of noble example and force 
 of unsullied character to convert a Christian ruler to 
 Islam, there is no reason why I should not pray to 
 God for a high degree of piety and godliness and 
 righteousness coupled with perfect obedience and 
 submission to the Government, so that the force of 
 my and my brethren's electrifying example may win 
 over for Islam, if not His Majesty King George, any 
 of his descendants. May God prosper King George 
 and his mighty empire. In short the significance 
 which the European clergy put upon the term " Pan- 
 lslamism ' is absolutely humbug for us Indians. 
 There is no doubt that we raised a subscription for 
 the Tripoli war and even approached the benign 
 Government with a petition for interfering with a 
 view to putting a stop to the war, for we Muslims 
 felt great mental pain on account of the outrages 
 and atrocities said to be perpetrated there by 
 Italians. But is it, I ask, an unlawful deed? Cer- 
 tainly not ! Even in England the brutalities of 
 Italians were looked upon with contempt, even there 
 the war is denounced, even there, like us, the Govern- 
 ment was requested to interfere and put a stop to the 
 war. If a subscription was opened for the aid of the 
 martyrs and the wounded of the war, it was so done 
 w T ith the permission of His Excellency the Viceroy. 
 
If meetings were held here to deliberate over the 
 Persian problem, they were presided over by Lord 
 Lamington there. I saw these events and then pon- 
 dered over the international principles set forth in 
 the works on the subject with a view to see if there 
 was anything running counter to British neutral 
 policy, but I could find nothing there to tamper wdth 
 the British neutrality. We are perfectly aware that 
 the policy of our Government is strictly neutral wdth 
 regard to the Turko-Italian war. If we send an 
 army from this place for the aid of either party, we 
 w T ill surely be breaking the neutral policy of our 
 rulers. But whatever has been done in this respect 
 by the Indian Muslims does in no way clash with the 
 avowed principles of neutrality. Even if, God for- 
 bid, the Government happens to openly side with 
 Italy and enter the lists against the Turks and Arabs, 
 we shall first humbly beseech the Government to 
 desist from such an intention. But if the Govern- 
 ment be not able to hold back from its intention, it 
 will even then be absolutely unlawful for Muslims to 
 do against our Government even what w r e are now 
 doing against Italy or Eussia. It will then be our 
 bounden duty to continue loyal to the Government or 
 to leave its protection and the country under it. 
 There is no doubt that wherever there lives a Muslim, 
 he is to us our brother, and we naturally sympathise 
 with him in his woe. It is quite natural. If we 
 say otherwise , it will be false and against the course 
 of nature. But natural sympathy in w 7 oe does not 
 mean that we should stray aw^ay from the path of 
 submission. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE MAKING OF CONVEETS. 
 
 "There must be no compulsion in Religion." Koran. 
 
 IF we compare the methods adopted by the Muslims 
 when advancing their religious opinions, with the 
 systems obtaining amongst certain Christian propa- 
 g'andists, we cannot fail to be struck by the marked 
 difference shown the one breathing the spirit of 
 love and toleration, and the other savouring more 
 of compulsion and condemnation. The instructions 
 given in the Koran are very simple, and lay down 
 in the plainest possible language the duty of the 
 Prophet and his disciples when preaching Islam. 
 They are simply commanded to deliver God's mes- 
 mage to mankind, and no blame is to be attached 
 to them if the message is rejected. 
 
 "The apostle has only to preach his message. 
 And remind, prophet, thou art only to remind, 
 thou art not an authority over them. 
 
 " Say, O ye people, there has come to you the 
 truth from your Lord, and he who is guided, his 
 guidance is only for his soul ; and he who errs, errs 
 only against it, and say I am not a guardian over it. 
 But if they turn aside, we have not sent thee to 
 them as a guardian, thou hast only thy message to 
 preach. But say this is the truth from your Lord, 
 so let him who will, believe, and let him w^ho will, 
 disbelieve/' 
 
 There is no ambiguity whatsoever in these lines 
 from the Koran ; the missionary is not asked to be 
 a proselytizer, he has only to preach the Word of 
 
God ; if conversion is to bless his efforts it must corne 
 entirely by spontaneous judgment, and must not be 
 attained by means of compulsion or persuasion. 
 Christ gave much the same instructions to his dis- 
 ciples when he said, " And whosoever shall not 
 receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, 
 shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony 
 against them." 
 
 We also have the following verse, still further 
 guiding honest missionaries of every creed :- 
 
 ' ' Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom 
 and godly warnings, and dispute with them in 
 the kindest way/' -Koran (xvi. 26). 
 
 Here we see three stages of preaching :- 
 
 (1) Invitation to the religion of God with wisdom 
 and caution. 
 
 (2) Imparting sacred warnings. 
 
 (3) The kindly and beneficent method of conduct- 
 ing the arguments. 
 
 If those we are endeavouring to lead towards 
 Islam refuse to listen, we must not get angry or be 
 offended, but merely invoke their witness that we 
 have conveyed to them what we believe to be God's 
 message, and that we are resigned to His Will. All 
 true guidance must come from God, and we have 
 done our duty if we have faithfully preached and 
 endeavoured to explain His messages. In the Koran 
 the Prophet is repeatedly reminded that he is but a 
 "warner," and that no blame will be attached to 
 him on account of the errors or obstinacy of his 
 hearers. " Let him who will, believe, and let him 
 who will, disbelieve." Verses such as this are of 
 frequent occurrence in the Koran, and they certainly 
 show that there is no truth in the constantly re- 
 peated charge that the Koran incites its readers to 
 
propagate Islam by oppressive or violent measures. 
 Indeed, it forbids the Holy Prophet to carry even 
 persuasion too far; for he is told that, if the persons 
 preached to pay no heed to his exhortation, he should 
 leave them alone, as it was not his duty to compel 
 anyone to accept Islam. Conversion must come 
 spontaneously, and true religion can only be accepted 
 with an open heart. "Whosoever God wishes to 
 guide, He expands his heart to Islam." Conver- 
 sions of this class can surely not be the result of 
 compulsion. 
 
 It will thus be seen that as far as proselytization 
 goes the methods enjoined by the Koran are entirely 
 of the peaceful and gentle order. Muslims have had, 
 in days gone by, to protect themselves by force of 
 arms, but they have never attempted to promul- 
 gate Islamic teachings by means of the sword we 
 cannot say as much for the Christians. 
 
 When we come to consider the possibilities of 
 establishing Islam as one of the religions of the 
 West we are confronted by a very difficult problem, 
 i.e., the harmonizing of Eastern customs which pre- 
 vailed in Arabia over 1,300 years ago with modern 
 Western usages. Concerning this, Sir Harry H. 
 Johnston is reported to have written : 
 
 * " If the Mahomedan Egyptians prefer to regard 
 the Koran and the mediaeval elaboration of the Koran 
 as the last word, the dominant and ultimate 
 authority in law, science, sanitation, morals, and 
 social economy, so Jong will Mahomedan teaching 
 institutions be utterly futile in coping with the re- 
 quirements of the twentieth century, and so long 
 will Mahomedan peoples be unfitted to govern them- 
 selves, and still less to govern more intelligent fellow- 
 citizens of more enlightened faiths." 
 
 * "The Comrade," Delhi, February 21, 1914. 
 
These expressions of opinion, coming from one 
 whose great experience in Africa and the Near East 
 entitles him to most respectful hearing and atten- 
 tion, may not be lightly brushed aside. We cannot 
 agree as to the existence of a ' more enlightened 
 faith," since it seems impossible to conceive any 
 creed more enlightened than that which does 
 away with all idolatrous rites, relies entirely 
 on the help and direction of the one and only 
 God, and which teaches our duty to our neigh- 
 hour, and beneficence to all our fellow creatures. 
 The difficulties which seem to exist are chiefly those 
 due to ceremonials. The actual spirit of Islam is> 
 far above all these minor points, but it must not be 
 forgotten that the true disciple of the Holy Prophet 
 loves to follow to the letter, as far as worldly cir- 
 cumstances will permit all the injunctions laid 
 down so explicitly in the Koran. Hard and fast rulc& 
 under one set of conditions may be fairly easy to 
 obey, e.g.. Eastern conditions many centuries ago 
 but they may be extremelydifficult to follow up in 
 the West at the present day. We may appreciate 
 the piety and zeal of the modern Muslim, but we 
 must also consider the great hindrances there are to, 
 say, a modern European business man, who is 
 entirely in accord with Islamic teaching in the spirit 
 and truth of our grand religion, who finds himself 
 unable to conform rigidly to the letter of the law r of 
 Islam. This is probably what Sir Harry Johnston 
 means when he refers to the " mediaeval elaboration 
 of the Koran." May God grant that all the obstacles 
 may in time be removed, and that the East and 
 West may worship in the same simplicity, and trust 
 to the sole and supreme aid of the Great Creator and" 
 Protector of all mankind. 
 
 There are many good and sincere Mahomedans 
 who hold that their belief in the Divine Unity of 
 
u8 
 
 God, and their acceptance of the messages delivered 
 to the world by the inspired Prophet, and 
 their obedience to the commandments from on 
 High, are sufficient to entitle them to be enrolled in 
 the ranks of the Faithful. Their failure to 
 conform to what may be called the minor conven- 
 tions is not sufficient to exclude them from the great 
 Brotherhood of Islam. The Unity of God, duty to 
 neighbours, and belief in the Angels and Prophets 
 of God, together with an acceptance of the Koran, 
 as revealed to the Holy Prophet Mahomet, consti- 
 tute the essentials of Islam : outward forms and 
 ceremonies cannot be held as the Christians say 
 their baptisms are to be generally necessary to sal- 
 vation. I w r ould say that, in presenting Islam to 
 Westerns, stress should only be laid on the vital 
 points, and that the main injunctions of the Koran 
 which is, of course, the Gospel of Islam should bo 
 adhered to. We have seen from the above that a 
 correct representation of the inspired Book should 
 form the chief feature of Islamic preaching, and that 
 particular care should be taken to do nothing to 
 irritate or offend those we wish to win over. All is 
 to be done in the kindest manner, and without 
 giving cause for resentment or anger. 
 
 How great is the difference between the method of 
 propagating religion, as practised by the Muslims 
 who follow the instructions of the Koran as above 
 enumerated, and that aggressive and irritating 
 system adopted by those who endeavour to dispense 
 various brands of the Christian faith ! 
 
 I can point to several cases within my own know- 
 ledge of rigid and uncompromising Protestants 
 making house-to-house visitations to Roman 
 Catholics in a Roman Catholic country in the hope of 
 making "converts." These possibly well-meaning 
 T)ut excessively irritating people go about armed with 
 
tracts which they press their victims to accept and 
 read. Such visits often upset whole households, 
 causing bickerings and disputes between the other- 
 wise happy and contented members of families. How 
 strangely neglectful are these mistaken proselytizers 
 of their duty towards neighbours, and that benefi- 
 cence, which should be the distinguishing mark of 
 Christ's followers ! The Eoman Catholics also carry 
 on their work of conversion, but they are far more 
 diplomatic and clever in their methods, and probably 
 meet with greater success. 
 
 Christians spend vast sums annually on Missions 
 to " Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics ' the three 
 latter terms being applied to Muslims and generally 
 to all those who do not regard the Almighty exactly 
 from their own standpoint and it would be instruc- 
 tive to ascertain how much money is annually thrown 
 away in attempts to force or persuade men of other 
 faiths to change their religions. 
 
 That the Medical Missions do admirable work, and 
 that they are worthy of support, cannot for a moment 
 be denied, and we should also respect those who en- 
 deavour to give a religion to communities of savages 
 who know not God at all, and worship only idols, 
 or sticks and stones. It is when we come to find 
 offers of worldly advantages or, in plainer language, 
 bribes being advanced in order to tempt a change of 
 religion, that we feel impressed with the hollowness 
 of the system of proselytizing in lands where excel- 
 lent forms of worship already exist. I have been 
 told that the accounts of the Societies for the Con- 
 version of Jews show that the cost per Jew convert 
 is many thousands of pounds. Surely this money 
 might be put to better uses? With respect to 
 Mahomedan conversions, probably the cost is still 
 higher, as there are very few Muslims of any educa- 
 tion at all who would change their pure and simple 
 
120 
 
 faith for any other. It is only the very poorest and 
 lowest who can be induced to change , and they only 
 take the step in order to better their worldly position. 
 The missionary is paid to make converts : he is 
 doing well in his profession if he secures many, and 
 badly if he secures few ; but he should not stoop to 
 unworthy methods and, above all, he should never 
 wilfully misrepresent the religion of those he is 
 endeavouring to lead into another path. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 THE MUSLIMS' LORD'S PRAYER. 
 
 AT one time, before I had studied the Koran deeply, 
 I used to wonder why the Christian Lord's Prayer 
 did not appear in the Muslims' Sacred Book, since 
 the beautiful prayer, Divinely inspired and given to 
 the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, contains nothing 
 but humble supplication to the Almighty. More 
 mature consideration of the question pointed out the 
 reason, and I give the following as the generally 
 accepted form of the Muslim prayer which takes the 
 place of the Christians' Lord's Prayer : 
 
 " Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures ; 
 the Most Merciful ; the King of the Day of 
 Judgment. Thee do we worship, and of Thee 
 do we beg assistance ; direct us in the right way, 
 in the way of those to whom Thou hast been 
 gracious, not of those against whom Thou art 
 incensed or of those who go astray." 
 
 For the benefit of all those who wish to under- 
 stand the full beauty and comprehensive strength of 
 this prayer, I now give in full an article written bf 
 my dear Brother in Islam, Khwaja Kamal ud Din, 
 for he is, what I regret to say I am not, a brilliant 
 Oriental scholar : 
 
 THE MUSLIM LORD'S PRAYER.* 
 
 All praises are due to Allah (God), who is 
 (Rabbul-Aalameeri) the creator and sustainer of 
 
 * Editorial Article, "Islamic Review," October, 1913. 
 
 9 
 
122 
 
 the whole universe ; who (Rahman \) confers on 
 us bounties without our deserts and supplies 
 things indispensable, creating them even before 
 we feel their need ; iclio (Rdheem\) rewards our 
 actions manifold; who requites the deeds, being 
 the Lord of the day of reckoning. 
 
 Thee, Lord, ice adore; Thee alone we 
 ivorship, and from Thee alone we solicit help. 
 
 Guide us, Lord, into the path which leads 
 straight to Thee. 
 
 Guide us to walk in the footsteps, and tread 
 on the path of those persons upon whom have 
 been Thy blessings and favours. 
 
 Save us, God, from the ways of those who 
 slight the right path after being shown it, and 
 incur Thy wrath. 
 
 Save us also, Lord, from the path of those 
 who, fallen into errors, have gone astray and not 
 reached Thee. 
 
 Be it so, God. 
 
 With these seven verses quoted above the Book 
 of God opens. They are recited by Muslims several 
 times daily in their five prayers. How ennobling 
 and energising they are ; how invigorating each word 
 and every verse ! What a splendid vista of hope is 
 opened before our eyes ; what a spirit of independ- 
 ence and freedom it infuses into our minds ; what a 
 boundless progress and unlimited advancement it 
 promises ; what a wise caution against anything 
 which may incur the wrath of the Almighty, and 
 
 t In all the English translations of the Quran the two words 
 Rahman and Raheem have been translated "the most compas- 
 sionate and merciful." It is a wrong rendering, and does not 
 convey the real meaning. ED. 
 
123 
 
 what an effective check against what may lead one 
 astray ! 
 
 Before the advent of Islam, the notion of the 
 Deity entertained by man was somewhat hideous. 
 Divine wrath, when once excited, could not subside 
 but with human or animal gore, which was shed 
 from time to time at the sacred altars in India, 
 Greece and Eome. The patriarchs of the house of 
 Jacob had often to raise their arms against those 
 who had offended the God of Israel. Villages were 
 burned and crops destroyed ; animals killed and 
 property damaged; even children, women and men 
 of age were not spared, and this all to appease the 
 angered Jehovah. That special attribute of Divine 
 mercy, which under Pauline teaching found its 
 epiphany in the grace of the blood, could hardly, one 
 may say, redeem and vindicate the Most High. One 
 who condemns the whole race for the sin of one, 
 one who cannot forgive sin without compensation, 
 and one with whom good actions without particular 
 faith carry no weight, is not a love-inspiring and 
 lovable God. Such notions are not creditable to 
 their originators, nor add a whit of glory to All- 
 merciful God, and were never taught by Jesus 
 Christ. They are incompatible with that boundless 
 compassion and mercy which the Lord of the 
 Universe showed in creating things before we 
 came to existence, but so necessary to our 
 existence, and hence in compensation of nothing. 
 One who has been so merciful, and in reward 
 of nothing, cannot His compassion in for- 
 giving our sin be shown without atonement ? Man 
 needed a very high notion of Divine blessings and of 
 mercy, unconditional and unmerited, which notion 
 could actuate him to obey unreservedly his Creator 
 and Benefactor more out of love and gratitude than 
 out of fear and avarice ; it should assure him of His 
 
I2 4 
 
 unlimited blessings, which have already been con- 
 ferred, and which further await his good actions; 
 and the opening verses of the Quran came to supply 
 it. The first three Divine attributes given in the 
 text quoted above open our eyes to our Creator, our 
 Nourisher and Sustainer the God of mercy, of love, 
 of affection, of countless bounties, and of unlimited 
 blessing who creates everything for our sustenance 
 and development without our deserts and in com- 
 pensation of nothing ; this is the idea which the word 
 Rahman in the original conveys, and which has been 
 wrongly translated "Most Compassionate' in all 
 English translations of the Quran. He is Raheem 
 who gives thousand and one rewards for every good 
 action of man, leave alone that with Him actions 
 are nothing w 7 hen unattended with certain dogmatic 
 faith. The fourth attribute in the verse under dis- 
 cussion is very instructive : M alike yaumiddeen, the 
 Lord of the day of reckoning. He will reward every 
 good deed, but He may or may not punish sinners. 
 He is the Lord and not a slave, and therefore not 
 bound under the hard and fast code of justice in 
 forgiving sin against Him. 
 
 These four attributes given in the opening verse 
 of the Quran are not a chance glorification, but the 
 verse was inspired to reveal the true character of all 
 other attributes of God, and eradicate from the 
 human mind all wrong notions which existed before. 
 They created erroneous beliefs and formulated false 
 enervating dogmas. Then comes the next verse as 
 follows : 
 
 !< THEE WE WOESHIP, O GOD, AND FROM THEE 
 WE SOLICIT HELP." 
 
 What a spirit of independence and freedom. We 
 must not look to any individual for help. We must 
 not approach others for favours. We must keep up 
 
125 
 
 our pertinacity of character, and should not be sub- 
 servient to any man, but to our God, because all 
 other men are our equals. We have been given an 
 equal chance with all others. The world and the 
 bounties of God are also open to us. If other people 
 have become superior to us in rank and status in 
 any respect it is not a gift, but an acquisition and 
 development of things within our reach also. What 
 is accessible to them has not been sealed against us. 
 The very idea of the unity of God which this verse 
 inculcates leads to the idea of the equality of men. 
 If the Quran creates such a strong belief in the unity 
 of God and kills all polytheistic tendences in human 
 mind, it is not because He is ' a jealous God.' Such 
 an attribute we do not find in our sacred Book. Our 
 God is too great for that. The idea of the unity of 
 God serves another purpose. It creates an 
 ennobling sense in us. It teaches that the w T hole 
 universe is either equal or subservient to us. From 
 time immemorial till now, man has adored the 
 elements of Nature from fetishism to man-w 7 orship. 
 This was an impediment to his progress in natural 
 sciences and a check to his personal advancement. 
 He needed elevation, and the idea of the unity of 
 God came to his help. With one stride all his other 
 deities became either his ministers or his equals. In 
 the first case he tries to find ways to make 
 the elements of Nature subservient to his needs, and 
 this is the foundation of all his scientific discoveries. 
 In the other, he aspires to emulate his objects of 
 worship, and becomes regenerated. Muslims lost 
 everything when this noble idea of the equality of 
 men became weakened in them. One who demands 
 from man an allegiance which destroys equality 
 wishes to become our God, and a Muslim cannot 
 give countenance to it. This one idea, call it unity 
 of God or the equality of man, creates all healthy 
 
126 
 
 and noble ideas of democracy, socialism, and univer- 
 sal brotherhood. It alone can stand responsible to 
 make our world a millennium. 
 
 The next verse is very comprehensive and ener- 
 gising. In it we invoke Divine guidance to learn the 
 
 PATH OF THE BLESSED. 
 
 We are longing to know the ways which may enable 
 us to become recipients of the blessings of God. Can 
 you imagine anything nobler and higher, anything 
 more desirable and worthy of possession, than what 
 the wide scope of the words ' Divine blessings ' 
 does include? The verse opens to you anything and 
 everything worth having. If we are taught by God 
 Himself to approach Him with such a prayer, will 
 He grudge us His favours if we tread the right path ? 
 The very fact that this prayer is a Divine revelation 
 shows His willingness to shower upon us all that 
 one can imagine art, science, culture, civilisation, 
 wealth, power, rule, piety, righteousness, and high 
 spirituality, in short, everything enviable in the 
 world. 
 
 Thus our Lord's Prayer suggests to us the way 
 which leads to our regeneration, and enables us to 
 receive the Divine blessings. It informs us of those 
 conditions which when present are sure to invite and 
 utilise Divine help ; and the very first verse is lucid 
 enough to enlighten us on this secret. 
 
 God has created the whole universe for the evolu- 
 tion of mankind. We invoke His mercy in helping 
 us to accomplish this grand design. But we are 
 taught to address Him as Rahman and Raheem. 
 These attributes, as stated before, disclose two dis- 
 tinct kinds of mercy : One reveals itself in creating 
 things so necessary for our life and further progress, 
 the other comes to make our actions fruitful. The 
 
127 
 
 former creates things which we cannot create our- 
 selves, but which are indispensable for us as 
 material to work upon ; the latter crowns our exer- 
 tions with ample success when the created material 
 has been utilised. The function of the one ends 
 where that of the other begins. They are correla- 
 tive, no doubt, but the latter only follows human 
 actions, and does not work unless man has himself 
 worked out what he finds in the Nature created 
 under the former kind of mercy. And does not the 
 whole of Nature reveal these two Divine attributes so 
 aptly put in the Muslim Lord's Prayer? The earth 
 and everything in it, the atmosphere, the sun, the 
 moon, the stars, and, in a word, every atom in 
 Nature has been created by God to help us, to sus- 
 tain us, and to serve us ; but they do not work to our 
 advantage unless we make the first move. Let us 
 apply to them, and they are at our service, and our 
 exertion, insignificant as it may be, gets an unlimited 
 reward. Take the case of a scientist : his business 
 is not to create things ; his sole work is to combine 
 or separate things already created. Everything 
 existed before , but a move from him , and wonderful 
 results are achieved ; even the single grain cannot be 
 produced without the cumulative functions of the 
 various ingredients of Nature, but they all remain in 
 abeyance, and no sooner does a farmer go to his 
 field than every atom begins to perform its respective 
 function. This great lesson is brought before our 
 mind several times daily w T hen we say our 
 five prayers. We are reminded of God, Who is 
 B ah man and Raheem. He is bountiful in creating 
 the things so indispensable for our sustenance and 
 progress, but His bounties are of no avail if we are 
 inactive and do not use them. As Rahman He is 
 equally merciful to all mankind, but as Raheem 
 His mercies are confined to those who care to benefit 
 
128 
 
 themselves by His mercies of the first kind. You 
 wish to be the master of the world, God is ever will- 
 ing to respond to your prayer : He will help you in 
 this, your special demand; but bring special fruits, 
 make special efforts first deserve and then desire is 
 true everywhere. Ponder also over the order in 
 which these two sentences have been put in our 
 prayer : " Thee we worship, and from Thee we ask 
 help. ' ' First ' ' worship ' ' and then ' ' help. ' ' Help 
 comes only to those who worship first, and remem- 
 ber that the word ' Ibadat,' which in the text stands 
 to convey the idea of worship, also means to do our 
 best to work out all the gifts of God. One who 
 slights His bounties and does not apply himself to 
 them properly has, under the teachings of Islam, 
 hardly realized the true Quranic conception of wor- 
 ship. To neglect things created is to insult their 
 Creator. 
 
 Again, consider the very words " from Thee we 
 ask help." You do not ask God to do anything for 
 you ; you solicit His help simply. In these w T ords of 
 prayer you do admit that you have already begun to 
 do your utmost ; you are doing what lies within your 
 powers, and now you come to His door for His help. 
 Thus 
 
 f< GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES," IS AN 
 ISLAMIC IDEA. 
 
 The next verse again confirms the same principle, 
 and explains the nature of the help we invoke. 
 
 GUIDE Us INTO THE PATH OF THE BLESSED. 
 
 We invoke Divine guidance in adopting the right 
 and straight path. Here again we declare our 
 willingness to tread the path. We do not ask God 
 to do something on our behalf. We are taught to 
 
I2 9 
 
 express our willingness to traverse the course lead- 
 ing to Divine blessings. To reach the goal, of 
 course, there are various ways, crooked and straight, 
 long as well as short. We solicit God to show us the 
 straight way, which must be short as a matter of 
 course. One who is not willing to make the move, 
 one wlio loves idleness and hates work need not 
 approach God and knock at His door. He is marked 
 for destruction, as the door is opened to those only 
 who, before knocking, have shown their readiness to 
 work and ask guidance to regulate their exertions. 
 
 Here is a 
 
 GREAT MORAL LESSON FOR MUSLIMS 
 
 as well as for others, in this prayer. It is in reality 
 the secret of success in every human endeavour. This 
 is the way to walk humbly with God and receive His 
 blessings. The Muslims of the early days took this 
 Divine hint. They began to exert themselves to 
 their utmost, and could achieve within a score of 
 years what others could not do within centuries. 
 They received new r inspiration in every prayer. It 
 renovated them and brought all their latent faculties 
 into action; fresh life at every moment, and un- 
 limited therefore was their reward. But the case 
 with the present Muslims is quite different. Their 
 ancestors enjoyed the blessings of God and left a 
 splendid heritage to them. Its abundance blinded 
 the coming progeny, who forgot to be keenly alive to 
 the path which could bring them to those blessings. 
 Our lip prayers invoked the path of the blessed, the 
 path of our forefathers, the path carved by them 
 under Divine guidance, but we neglected and 
 slighted it. And now T what is our present attitude 
 towards prayer? One wiio has neglected all the 
 
1 3 o 
 
 good chances opened to him , one whose every energy 
 has been sapped through idleness, one who hates 
 work and is in complete subjection to lassitude and 
 inertia, and has begun to reap the fruits of his abuse 
 of life, he at once thinks of Divine favours and 
 hastens to say his prayers. What a mockery ! What 
 a shameless farce I We call our God " Rah-bul- 
 Adlameen " the Creator of the universe ; of course, 
 He has created everything for our benefit ; we call 
 Him 'Rahman" decidedly He has shown special 
 mercy in supplying us all the things necessary for 
 our sustenance and growth, but they require hand- 
 ling. But how can it befit our lips to address Him 
 with the name of Eaheem, " one who has to reward 
 our actions manifold," when we have done no action? 
 How can we have the courage to say ' ' Thee we wor- 
 ship and from Thee we ask help ' ' when there has 
 been no exertion on our part? Where is the work, 
 where are the actions in which we ask His help? 
 Why call Him to guide us into the path of the 
 blessed, if we have no mind to tread it? 
 
 It is no prayer, it is mockery; and we should be 
 prepared to suffer the consequences. Brother 
 Muslims ! There is no delay in making amends. 
 What was achieved by the early Muslims can pos- 
 sibly be our acquisition. Knock at the door and i 
 shall be opened. To knock is your action, and to 
 open is the work of God ; but the move should come 
 from you. Consider the whole trend of this prayer, 
 how ennobling, inspiring and energising ! and yet a 
 sort of blight has everywhere overtaken the race to 
 which these electrifying words were first revealed. 
 
 Instead of firmness of resolution and purpose, 
 instead of strength of will and character, instead of 
 height of aspiration and ideal, everywhere lassitude, 
 enervation and degradation. Those to whom the 
 secret how to reach the top of the ladder of civiliza- 
 
tion had been first revealed are going down, down to 
 the bottom. But why, is there no remedy, no sal- 
 vation, no strong embankment to face and divert 
 this terrible inundation of inertia ? Though the self- 
 assertive policy of the nations in Europe and the 
 inhuman, wretched philosophy of the survival of the 
 fittest, which has incited its believers to sap all the 
 juice of life everywhere, and to adopt various means, 
 active or passive, to enervate others, are chiefly 
 responsible for demoralisation in the East ; yet the 
 fault, as far as the Muslim nations are concerned, 
 lies with themselves. They could have baffled all 
 degenerative agencies if they had kept these Divine 
 injunctions before their minds. 
 
 I might, for the sake of brevity, have taken 
 excerpts from this article, but, had I done so, it 
 would not have been possible to do justice to the 
 article or its accomplished writer. One point, pos- 
 sibly of no especial moment since the Great 
 Prophets of Nazareth and Arabia were so at one with 
 God. and so faithfully delivered His messages to 
 mankind is that the Christian Lord's Prayer asks 
 for " daily bread," whilst the Muslim prayer merely 
 begs for guidance in the right path. This might 
 give rise to misconceptions. Of course, the " daily 
 bread " refers not only to food but that spiritual sus- 
 tenance which we can only obtain from God, our 
 Comforter and Sustainer. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 PEAISE AND THANKSGIVING. 
 
 PRAISE is the very essence of prayer. The fact of 
 praising God shows the inward appreciation of God's 
 already vouchsafed mercies, and is a clear indica- 
 tion of the desire for a continuation or repetition 
 of those mercies, and it thus becomes the most 
 exalted form of prayer. It stipulates for nothing, 
 mentions nothing, but leaves all to God who knows 
 all our w r ants. This is the quintessence of the 
 Muslim's faith. 
 
 " When prostrate at Thy feet I fall, 
 
 Fresh wisdom to acquire, 
 All Thy past favours I recall : 
 
 Nor do I now r desire 
 To ask from Thee what Thou must know, 
 
 In Thy omniscient mind, 
 Is really best for us below 
 
 And infinitely kind." 
 
 There is always a touch of the sordid element in 
 prayer when merely regarded as supplication for 
 worldly treasure or advantage, and it has sometimes 
 struck me that the writer of the Christian prayer 
 in which occurs the line ' ' Who knowest our necessi- 
 ties before we ask and our ignorance in asking/' 
 was aware of this, otherwise he could not have used 
 a word implying want of knowledge. The inference 
 is that those who are sensible of God's infinite power 
 will not be so ignorant as to ask Him for what He 
 has already arranged to give them. Gratitude for 
 
133 
 
 past favours can never be regarded as selfish or sordid 
 or mean. 
 
 Again, that "need of reminders' which is so 
 observable in many Christian churches is altogether 
 absent in the mosques where, save for verses from 
 the Koran and the simple Crescent pure and sweet 
 emblem of the birth of Life there is nothing to 
 catch the eye or distract. There is no need of the 
 praying wheel, the rosary, the music and the 
 incense. No idols and no images. ; Thou shalt 
 worship the Lord Thy God and Him only shalt Thou 
 serve." It is the spirit of God alone which directs, 
 and the true Muslim sees the evidences of his 
 Father's power and love in every blade of grass, in 
 every breath of air, and he is as happy when saying 
 his prayers on the desert sands or mountain top as 
 he would be in the most beautiful building made by 
 man's hands. 
 
 The following is the text of a prayer which I wrote 
 for use at our services at the Lindsey Hall, and at 
 the Mosque at Woking : 
 
 (Especially written for all earnest followers 
 
 of Islam.) 
 
 The first portion of this prayer was read at our 
 meeting at the Lindsey Hall on December 5th ; the 
 concluding portion was offered up at the same place 
 on December 12th. In the composition I have 
 earnestly tried to bring out our desire for increased 
 powers of toleration, forgiveness and endurance, and 
 begged God's assistance in driving away all fear of 
 consequences, because I am convinced that FEAR is 
 at the bottom of nearly all the troubles of life. 
 
 " With joy unspeakable I feel 
 
 Thy presence ever near. 
 I know that when to Thee I kneel 
 
 There is no thought of fear. 
 
134 
 
 ' ' For love and fear can never dwell 
 
 Within a human breast, 
 Since love is strong and will expel 
 All fear and bring sweet rest. 
 
 " Not rest as understood down here 
 
 By human minds and laws, 
 But everlasting labour fair 
 
 Which struggles in Thy cause. 
 
 " Unselfish love brings glad rewards 
 A million times more sweet 
 Than any treasure earth affords, 
 Or human beings meet."* 
 
 There are many similar verses in the little book 
 referred to ; it was written at times of very dreadful 
 persecution and suffering, but I am thankful to say 
 that my confidence in God's mercy never wavered 
 for one moment, even in the times of direst distress, 
 and I never felt fear on one single occasion. This is 
 the prayer above referred to :- 
 
 " O Almighty and Ever-present God, Thee alone 
 do we look to. Thee alone do we adore and wor- 
 ship ; accept our loving offerings of praise and thanks- 
 giving, and increase our power of understanding Thy 
 infinite wisdom, Thy infinite love and Thy infinite 
 compassion. Thou art our Creator and Thou 
 knowest that since we love Thee we also hate and 
 loathe the devil and his miserable devices to take our 
 thoughts from Thee. 
 
 " Dear Father of Heaven and God of the Universe, 
 make us beneficent towards all those of our fellow- 
 creatures who may not think of Thee as we our- 
 selves do : May we show a spirit of toleration and 
 
 * "Thoughts for the Future." By "A. W." (Walter Scott 
 Publishing Co., Felling-on-Tyne, Durham.) 
 
135 
 
 may we beg of Thee to so direct the hearts of all our 
 brethren in this world that they may appreciate our 
 earnest desire to welcome them into that fold where 
 the Shepherd, in Thy Almighty, Glorious, and Mer- 
 ciful Presence, is ever to be found. 
 
 " May we, God our Preserver and Comforter, 
 endeavour to follow in the footsteps of Thy Holy 
 Prophets, Moses, Christ, and Mahomet, and, from 
 their teachings, may we learn humility and patience. 
 We are now entering upon a new era in which we 
 shall have to combat the demon of Atheism , born of 
 intolerance and superstition, and the demon of 
 idolatry and all that tends to obscure our view 7 of 
 Thee, Blessed God our Father. 
 
 ' ' Give us courage to follow in the footsteps of 
 Thy Prophet, the Divinely inspired Mahomet, 
 whose memory, do Thou, God, keep fresh and 
 green in our hearts. May we emulate his sincerity 
 and charity, and may we try to be like him in our 
 desire to do justice to all mankind. May we never 
 forget what our Lord Jesus Christ said of the Phari- 
 sees and Hypocrites, but, as Thou art All-Merciful, 
 we implore Thee to forgive and change the hearts of 
 those who are hostile to Islam, especially those who 
 have wilfully misrepresented our Faith to the 
 Western World. We pray for Thy Divine guidance 
 to Thee alone do we look. Thou art our Leader and 
 Guide, our Ever-present Councillor and Protector. 
 Islam is our only watchword, and we feel safe in 
 Thy Almighty Arms. 
 
 'Dear Father, Thou art very near 
 We feel Thy presence everywhere 
 In darkest night, in brightest day, 
 
 To show the path, direct the way. 
 
 " El Farooq, 
 
 " Friday, December 5, 1913." 
 
1 3 6 
 
 " Almighty God, may it please Thee, in Thy 
 infinite power and love, to remove from our hearts 
 all those feelings of fear which may stand in the way 
 of our obvious duty to Thee. Give us fortitude to 
 endure without a qualm all adverse criticism, and 
 may we ever look with leniency and toleration on 
 those who have not yet quite understood our creed. 
 Do Thou, Almighty and loving Protector, give cour- 
 age to the waverers to openly confess the 
 all-conquering powers of Islam, and may their in- 
 creased self-respect be a portion of their reward. 
 Praise be to Thee, God our Protector and 
 Comforter. 
 
 " AMEN. 
 
 ' El Farooq, 
 " Friday, December 12, 1913." 
 
 The above appeared in the January, 1914, num- 
 ber of the "Islamic Review," and I also quote the 
 following lines, which I wrote to illustrate 
 the Brotherhood of Islam and Muslim Equality : 
 
 Dear Father, 'twas Thy loving care 
 Which did into our minds instil 
 
 The love for all Thy creatures here 
 And made us seek to do Thy will. 
 
 When we our anthems raise to Thee, 
 When foes around us press us sore, 
 
 may we seek Thy face to see, 
 
 And learn to love Thee more and more. 
 
 Father, may we live in Thee, . 
 
 Do Thou our loving hearts enshroud, 
 We long Thy loveliness to see, 
 
 When we have to Thy wishes bowed. 
 
 'Tis not alone in open fight 
 In which w 7 e prostrate fall to Thee, 
 
137 
 
 But it is when we do the RIGHT 
 The outcome of Thy Majesty. 
 
 At certain times we fall before 
 
 The mercy seat that Thou hast raised, 
 
 And then we do Thy Name adore 
 
 And seek to see Thee loved and praised. 
 
 The King and beggar side by side 
 Sing the glad song of gratitude, 
 
 For Thou dost love them both the same 
 And giv'st them Thy Beatitude. 
 
 With Moses, Christ and Mahomet 
 Who gave to us Thy message sweet, 
 
 may our steps towards Thee be set 
 And long Thy loving arms to greet. 
 
 Some seven years ago, w T hen I was in very deep 
 sorrow and distress, I wrote the following Hymn of 
 Praise, and that portion in inverted commas, com- 
 mencing " Blessed God ..." came into my head 
 very suddenly, and I at once wrote it down in pencil 
 on a scrap 'of paper. 
 
 The deepest love for Thee and Thine 
 Eefulgent in my heart will shine ; 
 Thy slightest wish shall ever be 
 My care throughout Eternity. 
 
 Thou art my God, my Lord, my King ; 
 Without Thee could not anything 
 
 1 now enjoy be mine to-day, 
 
 And I should not have lived to say 
 
 " O Blessed God, Almighty King, 
 Open Thy heart and let me in ; 
 I know Thy grace. Thy -power, Thy love, 
 Altho' Thou dwellest in Heaven above. 
 
 10 
 
138 
 
 " Thy glorious prophets, led by love ; 
 Directly sent from Heaven above, 
 Did strive to show that only one 
 Great God above in Heaven shone. 
 
 " With Moses, Christ, and Mahomet,*' 
 may our steps towards Thee be set ; 
 Of mortal birth , they all proclaim , 
 Thy one eternal, glorious Name. 
 
 ' And when of life is known the source , 
 Dark evil will have run its course ; 
 No mysteries will then appear, 
 For we shall be with God most dear. 
 
 1 Death then no more shall touch with fears 
 Our hearts, or from our eyes draw tears ; 
 Great Allah, God our Lord and King, 
 Will banish every thought of sin. 
 
 "Jehovah, Father, we must now 
 Eecord the noblest human vow : 
 To struggle here as Michael strove 
 Successfully in Heaven above." 
 
 Our love for God is a thing apart, inexplicable to 
 our finite human mind, and known only to the dear 
 Father Who made us and gave us the power to 
 praise Him unceasingly. 
 
 * It is impossible to be a good Mahomedan without being 
 good Christian. Why are they at war? 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE CONTINUATION OF GOD'S 
 
 BLESSINGS. 
 
 GR)d saith, verily My compassion overcometh My wrath. 
 
 -The Holy Prophet. 
 
 WERE it not for our physical sensations we should 
 be unable to understand the meaning of pleasure or 
 pain, and the very beauty of the word Paradise 
 would be unintelligible to us. A spirit or soul never 
 clothed in flesh conveys nothing whatever to our 
 minds or hearts. All sensations of love for the 
 wonderful beauties of Nature are connected with 
 the life blood which unceasingly flow T s through our 
 living frames. It is not possible to conceive any 
 joys unconnected with bodily sensations. Take the 
 case of kindly actions alone I mean unselfish acts 
 by which one human being is able to give great 
 pleasure to another or help another without any 
 prospect of worldly reward for himself is it not a 
 fact that every such act produces a thrill of physical 
 joy or a light-heartedness which is beneficial to 
 health and happiness? The question of why the 
 spirits and souls should be clothed in flesh is not one 
 for us to ask, we only know that it was God's will, 
 and no human being can presume to inquire into 
 such mysteries. 
 
 Heavenly blessings, and those good things which 
 
 'pass man's understanding," may not be identical 
 
 with those pleasures we already know something 
 
 about on this earth, but it is extremely unlikely that 
 
 an entirely new set of conditions will be presented 
 
140 
 
 when the transition time of passing from the earthly 
 to the heavenly state takes place. We see continuity 
 in all creation, and is it not, therefore, reasonable 
 to suppose that in the future state we may experi- 
 ence a further development, in intensified and 
 glorified form, of those pleasures we already know 
 something about? Why not? There is nothing 
 wrong in enjoying the pleasures of life, or the 
 Merciful and Compassionate God would not have 
 given us senses which enable us to appreciate those 
 pleasures. As the Holy Koran says : M Bear good 
 tidings to those who believe and do good works 
 that they shall inherit gardens beneath which rivers 
 flow. So often as they are fed in that life with 
 fruits they shall say : : These are the fruits which 
 were given us formerly/ because they shall find the 
 fruits of after-life resembling the fruits which were 
 given them here." 
 
 The fruits of Paradise may not indeed be the 
 same as those we enjoy on earth, but they will be 
 such as we can understand and appreciate in an 
 intensified form, and this would not be the case if 
 we had not received the previous instruction and 
 experience. The remembrance of God and His 
 Mercies will be an everlasting source of joy. and 
 will enable the true believers to identify the fruits 
 of Paradise with those of this world, and they will 
 be able to say, " These are the fruits which were 
 given us in the former life." 
 
 The idea of continuity runs through the pages of 
 the Koran. As Mirza Ghulam Ahmad said, in his 
 remarkable work, " The Teachings of Islam," 
 whatever good men enjoy spiritually in this life are 
 really blessings not of this, but of the next life, and 
 are <: ' granted to them as a specimen of the bliss 
 that is in store for them in the next life in order to 
 increase their yearning for it." 
 
141 
 
 From this we may be led to infer that whether we 
 regard the existence of mankind from the standpoint 
 of this present world w r hich we know something 
 about or from the hypothetical and more extended 
 and wonderful platform of .the next world of which 
 at present we know so little we cannot get away 
 from the fact that we are ourselves. Each 
 individual must have had a beginning, ordered by 
 God Himself, and it w r ould seem that the identity 
 of each must be the same whatever the environ- 
 ment or however extended the different stages of 
 existence. 
 
 To the entirely unimaginative and stolid in- 
 dividual, who regards with indifference all the plea- 
 sures of this life, there can never come any very 1 
 keen desire for an increase of those pleasures his 
 blunted faculties will not allow him to experience 
 delight in the beauties of Nature and wonders of the 
 universe, so that his conception of Paradise is prob- 
 ably very feeble. On the other hand, the sensitive 
 and highly appreciative nature of one who gratefully 
 accepts trie bounties and pleasures of life is probably 
 energized and strengthened by looking forward to a 
 Paradise where there is the enjoyment in greatly 
 intensified form of those delights he has already 
 experienced. 
 
 It does seem strange that the teachings of the 
 Western Churches have exerted so much influence 
 for so many hundreds of years, when it is considered 
 that such a needlessly insipid and unattractive future 
 state is set forth in the doctrines advanced, which 
 are held to be of vital importance. As a small boy 
 my only dread of death was connected with a fear 
 of being compelled to sit on a cloud for ever playing 
 a harp. Exactly how the repellant idea got into 
 my head I do not remember, but there it was, and 
 it induced discomfort of mind. How much more 
 
142 
 
 desirable would it have been had a beautiful flower 
 and lovely view of earth and sky and sea been shown 
 to me with the remark : " There, my boy, you see 
 how pretty and sweet that flower is, and how 
 splendid that view? Well, in Heaven there are 
 flowers a hundred times more beautiful and sweet, 
 and views a hundred times more magnificent." 
 This would have given me something to look for- 
 ward to and desire ; and even now the mere writing 
 down of these words gives me comfort, as I feel 
 they are so true. 
 
 Why should it be wrong for human creatures whose 
 experience of pleasures is . so far as they know for 
 certain", confined to this present world's lessons and 
 'attractions, to look forward to a continuation of 
 such pleasures on a far grander scale? But here 
 the sacerdotal element conies in and says , ' No ; 
 all is vanity, the pleasures of this world are wicked, 
 you must not enjoy them, and above all, you must 
 not expect anything of the kind in the next world." 
 When sacerdotalism holds the key the difficulties 
 as regards Heaven are greatly increased. Why 
 should not Western churches teach the rational doc- 
 trine of a continuity of those blessings which man- 
 kind already understand and believe in? Why make 
 fresh obstacles by conjuring up complicated state- 
 ments as to rewards and punishments attendant 
 upon the belief or disbelief in certain dogmas ? Why 
 not cultivate a simple faith in God, and trust in 
 His power to intensify all our earthly pleasures in a 
 spiritual existence ? Would such a course be in any 
 way hostile to the teachings of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ? I think not. 
 
 ' ' In every blade of grass I see 
 Thy sacred , loving hand ; 
 In every thought that comes to me 
 Behold the promised Land." 
 
143 
 
 In this verse, written many years ago. I recognize 
 the spirit of continuity if we can see God's won- 
 derful handiwork in this world we can surely also 
 form some faint idea of His infinite power to mag- 
 nify the favours He has already showered upon us 
 in such lavish profusion. 
 
 Eecently (May 21, 1914) ? "Heaven' was the 
 subject of a sermon preached by Dean Inge in St. 
 Paul's Cathedral. In the course of his remarks he 
 is reported to have said that he ' ' did not believe 
 there was ever a time when Christians thought less 
 about Heaven. As soon as the clergy left the sub- 
 jects of this world and began to talk about eternity, 
 men's attention obviously flagged." . . . . 
 ' ' Many Christians tried to make Heaven a geo- 
 graphical expression and to put eternity within the 
 framework of time." The very rev. gentleman 
 concluded his outspoken address by saying that the 
 average man now thought for himself, and knew 
 enough astronomy to feel the absurdity of placing 
 Heaven either inside or outside the Solar System. 
 Many of the clergy were themselves perplexed and 
 said as little about Heaven as they decently could. 
 It was better, he thought, that the clergy should 
 admit that they ' ; do not know." than that there 
 should be crude symbols given to the world as literal 
 facts. 
 
 It is not often we hear such broad-minded expres- 
 sions from the clergy of the Protestant faith, and 
 it w r ould be interesting to know r to what extent the 
 worthy Dean's ideas are in sympathy with Islamic 
 truths. He is evidently no supporter of the dog- 
 matic teachings built upon the superstitions of the 
 Dark Ages preferring the humble spirit of agnosti- 
 cism which refuses to condemn whilst it cannot 
 
144 
 
 support particular lines of human thought or con- 
 duct. 
 
 But we do not find one in a hundred Churchmen 
 who will speak thus plainly because they are afraid 
 to deviate from the beaten track, and thus incur the 
 disapproval of 'the Church," their superiors, or 
 their congregations. Worldly considerations come 
 in, and the loss of a living or a curacy may be a most 
 serious matter to many men with others depending 
 upon them for support. Recently we have had sad 
 examples of the attitude of certain Churchmen who 
 have not hesitated to attack Islam and thus provoke 
 the hostility of the peaceful and law-abiding 
 Muslims. 
 
 Speaking at the annual meeting of the Church 
 Missionary Society in May of this year (1914), Dr. 
 Whitehead, Anglican Bishop of Madras, gave it as 
 his opinion that there was a movement amongst the 
 outcastes of India, and that Christianity should be 
 prepared for that mighty avalanche , when ' ' some 
 fifty or sixty millions of people would be crowding 
 and making their way into the Christian Church." 
 On the same day Dr. Lefroy, Bishop of Calcutta, 
 in the course of a very outspoken and uncompromis- 
 ing address, declared that the problem of Mahome- 
 dan evangelization had never received a tenth part 
 of the attention its importance deserved, and that 
 there could be no question of neutrality between the 
 Cross and the Crescent, and that the fight must be 
 fought out. " The only sound method of Christian 
 defence against the onward march of Mahome- 
 danism must be that of attack, the Church throwing 
 itself heart and soul into the great cause, winning 
 the Mahomedan world to allegiance to Christ." The 
 Bishop thus throws down the gauntlet. 
 
 All this seems indicative of a desire to' see carried 
 into effect the wish expressed in the preface 
 
of the late Mr. Sales' translation of the Koran, viz., 
 that the Protestants should reap the glory of 
 exposing as spurious the Holy Book of the Muslims, 
 and thus upset the Mohamedan religion ! Consider- 
 ing how many points of similarity there are between 
 Christianity and Mahomedanism , which are really 
 sister religions, it seems little less than criminal to 
 endeavour to stir up strife. Mahomet and Martin 
 Luther both fought much the same fight, though 
 at very different periods of the world's history, and 
 they both fought against common enemies Idola- 
 try, Dogma, and Sacerdotalism. 
 
 Let us hope that wiser counsels may now prevail, 
 and that every person in the British Empire will at 
 least take the trouble to learn something about the 
 Muslim creed, for this would certainly bring about 
 a better feeling, and we shall no longer be classed 
 with "infidels and heretics ' ! as the Protestant 
 Prayer Book has it. It is humiliating to have to 
 admit that there is such a display of uncalled for 
 hostility on the part of the so-called Christians neces- 
 sitating so much forbearance and forgiveness on the 
 part of the Muslims. In these days of doubt and 
 uncertainty, the Empire should encourage all its 
 loyal subjects and discountenance any unfair attacks 
 on Muslim subjects who are known to be well dis- 
 posed and obedient to the laws of the land. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : J. S. PHILLIPS, 99 SHOE LANE, B.C. 
 
 II 
 
i. 
 
 '?** 
 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 LD 21A-50m-8/57 
 (C8481slO)476B 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
 
 t 
 
The festival of Eid ul Azha was celebrated 
 
 nt AN'oking Moscjuc of 
 
 \ ptiau 
 
 I ended A\u.h Lord Homllcy. pt 
 dent of the British Muslim Sooicty. 
 
 YB 223 1 i 
 
 M262150 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY