The mind of the true Eastern is at once lethargic and suspicious; he does not want to be reformed, and he is convinced that, if the European wishes to reform him, the desire springs from sentiments which bode him no good. Moreover, his conservatism is due to an instinct of self-preservation, and to a dim perception that, if he allows himself to be even slightly reformed, all the things to which he attaches importance will be not merely changed in this or that particular, but will rather be swept off the face of the earth. Perhaps he is not far wrong. Although there are many highly educated gentlemen who profess the Moslem religion, it has yet to be proved that Islam can assimilate civilization without succumbing in the process. It is, indeed, not improbable that, in its passage through the European crucible, many of the distinctive features of Islam, the good alike with the bad, will be volatilized, and that it will eventually issue forth in a form scarcely capable of recognition. “The Egyptians,” Moses said, “whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” The prophecy may be approaching fulfilment in a sense different from that in which it was addressed to the Israelites.

Look, moreover, not only to the spirit of the lawgivers, but to the general principles on which the laws are based. The tendency in all civilized European States is to separate religious from civil laws. In Moslem States, on the other hand, religious and civil laws are inextricably interwoven.

Look to the consequences which result from the degradation of women in Mohammedan countries. In respect to two points, both of which are of vital importance, there is a radical difference between the position of Moslem women and that of their European sisters. In the first place, the face of the Moslem woman is veiled when she appears in public. She lives a life of seclusion. The face of the European woman is exposed to view in public. The only restraints placed on her movements are those dictated by her own sense of propriety. In the second place, the East is polygamous, the West is monogamous.

It cannot be doubted that the seclusion of women exercises a baneful effect on Eastern society. The arguments on this subject are, indeed, so commonplace that it is unnecessary to dwell on them. It will be sufficient to say that seclusion, by confining the sphere of woman’s interest to a very limited horizon, cramps the intellect and withers the mental development of one half of the population in Moslem countries. An Englishwoman asked an Egyptian lady how she passed her time. “I sit on this sofa,” she answered, “and when I am tired, I cross over and sit on that.” Moreover, inasmuch as women, in their capacities as wives and mothers, exercise a great influence over the characters of their husbands and sons, it is obvious that the seclusion of women must produce a deteriorating effect on the male population, in whose presumed interests the custom was originally established, and is still maintained.

—Lord Cromer
in “Modern Egypt.”

[Pg 113]

From the day of its inception until the beginning of the last century, Mohammedanism never came into close, continuous contact with a pure Christianity. Its very beginning was a protest against a Christianity that, in its worship, had all the appearance, at least, of idolatry. The Mohammedan leaders then, as well as in subsequent generations, saw nothing in Christians which made them believe that Christianity could be better than their own religion. The Christianity with which Islam was in conflict was not such a manifestation in the lives and practises of its followers as to compel the intellectual approval of Moslems or even to command their attention. All the churches of Syria, Armenia, and Asia Minor had become worldly and formal, from which had departed the gentle spirit of their Lord, who exalted meekness, truth, purity, and righteousness. As the Mohammedans passed on towards the north and west in their victorious progress, not once did they encounter the strength of Christianity displayed in quiet meekness and forgiving love. In Europe they met the Church in arms and saw in it nothing to compel their respect.

Wherever Mohammedanism has penetrated, it has not come into vital touch with living Christianity. All that the Mohammedan knew of the practical teaching of Jesus Christ, up to the beginning of the last century, he had obtained from observing the Christians whom he conquered and controlled. It is no wonder that he concluded that his own religion was superior, when he saw the intemperance of even the leaders in the [Pg 114] Church, and when he took note of what seemed to him to be the worship of pictures and idols. He could not see that the Christian was more truth............