One of the obstacles which lie in the path of the European when he
wants to arrive at the true opinion of the Oriental is that the
European, especially if he be an official, is almost always in a hurry.
If, he thinks, the Oriental has anything to say to me, why does he not
say it and go away? I am quite prepared to listen most attentively,
but my time is valuable and I have a quantity of other business to do;
I must, therefore, really ask him to come to the point at once. This
frame of mind is quite fatal if one wishes to arrive at the truth. In
order to attain this object, the Oriental must be allowed to tell his
story and put forward his ideas in his own way; and his own way is
generally a lengthy, circuitous, and very involved way. But if any one
has the patience to listen, he will sometimes be amply rewarded for his
pains.
I once asked a high Moslem authority how he reconciled the fact that an
apostate could now no longer be executed with the alleged immutability
of the Sacred Law. The casuistry of his reply would have done honor to
a Spanish Inquisitor. The Kadi, he said, does not recognise any change
in the Law. He would, in the case of an apostate, pronounce sentence
of death according to the Law, but it was for the secular authorities
to carry out the sentence. If they failed in their duty, the sin of
disobeying the Law would lie on their heads. Cases of apostasy are very
rare, but during my tenure of office in Egypt, I had to interfere once
or twice to protect from maltreatment Moslems who had been converted to
Christianity by the American missionaries.
The reasons why Islam as a social system has been a complete failure
are manifold.
First and foremost, Islam keeps women in a position of marked
inferiority. In the second place, Islam, speaking not so much through
the Koran as through the traditions which cluster round the Koran,
crystallises religion and law into one inseparable and immutable whole,
with the result that all elasticity is taken away from the social
system. If to this day an Egyptian goes to law over a question of
testamentary succession, his case is decided according to the antique
principles which were laid down as applicable to the primitive society
of the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century.
—LORD CROMER in “Modern Egypt.”
No other country is so hard to understand, in its political,
intellectual, industrial, and religious conditions, as the Turkish
empire. This difficulty is augmented by the fact that no one of these
conditions can be even measurably understood without a knowledge of the
others. It is this which accounts for the widely divergent opinions
expressed by casual travelers, and makes well-nigh impossible an
explanation of Turkish phenomena to one who as yet knows nothing of the
country and people, of actual conditions and the reasons for them.
Turkey differs in almost every respect from all other countries.
Its government has no parallel either in fundamental principles of
organization or in methods of administration. It is unique in its
religious beliefs, unexampled in its educational conditions, and
incalculable in its dealings with moral and religious questions. We
entertain notions of right and wrong that are generally accepted
by the nations of Christendom as well as by many others not so
classed. These conceptions constitute the fundamental principles of
international usage and form the basis for what we call International
Law. To conclude, however, that these generally accepted principles
will command recognition in Turkey as the basis for its international
relations is to invite disappointment. Turkey recognizes no such law as
having force in its empire.
In the dealings of one nation with another it is customary to regard
the verbal pledge of a sovereign or cabinet minister as worthy of
credence, and a basis for negotiations, at least, if not for final
adjustment. This notion must be laid aside as purely academic and
visionary, in dealing with Turkey.
In view of such facts, it is plain that no phase of Turkish life or
affairs can be clearly understood without considerable knowledge of
the country and its history, the government and its administrative
processes, the diversified religions of its people, and their
interdependence. Such a knowledge is especially necessary to anything
like an intelligent comprehension of the problems and methods of
mission work in the empire of Turkey.
All the chapters of this book except the last were written as they
stand, some months before the promulgation of the Constitution on July
24, 1908. A reading of this manuscript suggests no alterations in
the light of recent facts except the addition of a statement of the
immediate events that led to the overthrow of the old régime and the
inauguration of the new order. Obviously only the transitions can be
recorded here. The new constitutional government has yet to demonstrate
its stability.