Pan-Islam Book

TO MY WIFE PREFACE I HAVE written this book to present the main factors of a many-sided problem political, social and religious in a form which the general public can easily grasp. Modern democratic principles tend to give the public increasing control of international and inter-racial affairs, and therefore any contribution to public knowledge on such questions is in the interests of sound administration. The book is not intended to advise those who actually handle these affairs I give such advice, when required, in more detail and not through the medium of a published work. Pan-Islam is an elementary handbook, not a text-book still less an exhaustive treatise, but the questions it discusses are real enough. My qualifications for writing it are based on a quarter of a centurys experience of the subject in most parts of the Moslem world, and I have studied the question in areas which I have not actually viii PREFACE visited through intercourse with pilgrims from those parts. I have no axe to grind or infallible panacea to advocate I merely lay the result of my researches before the public for its information, as failing health has warned me to pass the ball when collared, and I would like to think that the land where most of my lifes work has centred will not be mishandled by cranks and opportunists after I have left the game. An arm-chair is a sorry substitute for an Arab pony, and a garden plot for the highlands of Arabia Felix, but the human mind is not neces sarily confined by such trammels, and if my environment is narrow I hope my book is not. G. WYMAN BURY. Helouan, 27th July, 1919- CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE ITS ORIGIN AND MEANING . . . . II CHAPTER II ITS BEARING ON THE WAR .... 24 CHAPTER III ITS STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS 83 CHAPTER IV MOSLEM AND MISSIONARY , . . HO CHAPTER V A PLEA FOR TOLERANCE .... 187 PAN-ISLAM CHAPTER I ITS ORIGIN AND MEANING MUCH has been written about Christianity and Islam, so I hasten to inform my readers that this is not a religious treatise, nor do I class them with the globe-trotter who searched Benares brass-bazar diligently f or a really nice image of Allah and pronounced the dread name of Hindustans avenging goddess like an effervescing drink. I presuppose that Christians or Moslems who read this book have got beyond the stage of calling each other pagans or kafirs, and it will have served its purpose if it brings about a friendlier feeling between the two great militant creeds whose adherents have confronted together many a stricken field. Most people have heard of the pan-Islamic movement, especially during the War. Some 12 PAN-ISLAM CHAP. of us have called it a political bogey and some a world-menace, but these are extremist views it is really the practical protest of Moslems against the exploitation of their spiritual and material resources by outsiders. Pan-Islam as its name implies is a movement to weld together Moslems throughout the world regardless of nationality. The ethics and ideals of Islam are more attainable to ordinary human beings than those of Christianity whether it is better to aim high and score a partial success or aim lower and achieve is a matter of personal opinion and need not be discussed here, but one tangible fact stands out that Islam, with its easier moral standard and frequent physical discipline of attitudes and observances connected with obligatory prayer, enters far more into the daily life of its adherents than Christianity does with us. Hence pan-Islam is more than a spiritual movement it is a practical, working proposition which has to be reckoned with when dealing with Moslems even in secular matters. Pan-Islam is no new thing it is as old as the Hejira, and then helped to knit together Moslem Arabs against their pagan compatriots who were persecuting them. In the palmy days of the Abbaside Caliphate it was quiescent enough, men of all creeds were welcomed at BaghdadRead More