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.”
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 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 truthful, or honest, or pure, than himself; hence he naturally
concluded that the Christian religion was no better at least than his
own faith.
A traveler in the interior of the empire, and putting up at a
caravansary kept by a Mohammedan, asked him if it would be safe to
leave his luggage in the outer court. The Mohammedan replied with great
earnestness, “Certainly it will be safe, for there is not a Christian
living within a three hours’ journey of here.” This incident reveals
the opinion of at least one Moslem regarding the power of Christianity
to make men honest.
The Mohammedans have never had an adequate opportunity of knowing Jesus
Christ as Redeemer and Lord and of becoming his true disciples. They
have never seen the true Christ in the face and life of his followers.
They have had only a distorted vision of him, dwarfed and disfigured
and marred, and in that vision they have seen no form of comeliness
and no beauty that they should desire him. It is only in comparatively
recent years that an effort has been made to bring to the attention of
Islam the fruits of the true Christian life. It is not possible nor
is it expected that the experiences and prejudices of twelve hundred
years will be overcome in a single generation or even in a century.
Such deep-seated convictions can be changed only by prolonged fasting,
prayer, and sacrifice. Modern missions in Turkey are an attempt to
show to all in that country what true Christianity means in the
individual, in the family, and in society. It is not an attempt to
convince the Mohammedan by argument that Mohammed is the false prophet
and that Jesus Christ is God. Such an attempt would result only in
failure. The Mohammedan must be made to see in the lives of the true
followers of Jesus that which will give him a clear vision of the
Son of man, and lead him to cry out, “My Lord and my God.” I repeat,
Mohammedanism has never yet had an opportunity to accept Christ and
that we may not expect it to become Christian until the Christian world
has demonstrated to it the beauty, love, purity, and power of the true
Christian life.
These facts regarding Turkey and the various peoples who comprise its
population were not fully known to the early missionaries nor to the
officers of the Mission Boards. The country was largely unexplored
and the vast interior was almost a _terra incognita_. Mohammedanism
was vaguely understood. There was a clear knowledge of the conditions
and needs of the Greek Church, but the Armenians and the other races
in the remoter interior were but partially understood and only by a
few. The most of our knowledge of Arabia, Syria, Eastern Turkey, and
the interior of Asia Minor, the customs, beliefs, and lives of the
people who dwell there, is the heritage which has come to us from the
investigations and reports of missionaries who have traversed in every
direction all parts of the country, except sections of Arabia. Many of
these, by living among the people for a generation and mastering their
language, have been able to speak with the highest authority upon what
they have seen and known. We are approaching this question, not with
the doubtful knowledge or even gross ignorance of eighty years ago, but
with all the light that has come to us from fourscore years of mission
operations which now cover practically the entire country.
Never in the history of modern missions has a more difficult and
complicated work been undertaken. The questions which entered into
the mission problems of the Turkish empire were legion, assuming new
phases at every turn and every phase presenting a new difficulty. The
one dominant note that runs through it all is the fact of Mohammedan
rule. This fact in all its length and breadth must be taken into
consideration. Add to this the antiquity of the old churches, the form
of Christianity, from which the spirit has fled, the race hatreds, the
poverty of the country, the uncertainty of everything that pertains to
the government, except that it never fails to be superlatively bad,
the conviction of the Moslems that they have seen true Christianity
and know it to be as bad as their own government, and we have a few
of the difficulties which confronted the early missionaries. On the
other hand, there were the encouraging features of the reverence of
the Oriental churches, all of them, for the Holy Scriptures, their
allegiance to the Church, and their respect for ecclesiastics, to
which must be added their superior intelligence, eagerness to learn,
and capability for great advancement. Surely Turkey presented a varied
scene marked by high lights and dark shadows. Without hesitation, men
and women of unusual intellectual and spiritual capacity and breadth,
and of indomitable courage, entered this country to win it for Christ
and for Christian civilization.