O true believers, wage war against such of infidels as are near you,
and let them find severity in you. Al Koran, chap. 9.
Verily the worst cattle in the sight of God are those who are
obstinate infidels, and will not believe. Al Koran, chap. 8.
When ye encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads until ye
have made a great slaughter among them. Al Koran, chap. 47.
There is no God but God, and Mohammed is His apostle.[114] The
Mohammedan Creed.
O prophet, wage war against the unbelievers, and be severe unto them,
for their dwelling shalt be hell. Al Koran, chap. 9.
“The meanest moslem (the Mohammedan) will have in Paradise, 80,000
servants, seventy-two _houris_ or girls of Paradise.[2]
“Mohammed declared that when he looked down into hell, he found the
greater part of the wretches confined there to be women.”[115]
Go ye, therefore and make disciples of all nations. Matt. 28:19.
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23-34.
Fight thou against them until they pay tribute by right of subjection,
and they be reduced low. Al Koran, chap. 9:29.
“The Lord destroy the Jews and Christians.”[116] Mohammed.
(The above is Mohammed’s last prayer before he died.--Author).
The Bible gives women a place of great importance and service both
in the Old and New Testaments. The temple had its women’s court, the
synagogues and early churches had their respective places for women.
Their importance and helpfulness both in the church at home and abroad
are of inestimable value. But Mohammed confined them, wholesale, to the
infernal regions. Ali Bey (1807) (a great authority on Mohammedanism,
and a devout Mohammedan himself, whom the late Dr. Jessup quotes in his
work above referred to), says: “As the prophet has not assigned any
place for women in his Paradise, the Mohammedans give them no places in
the mosques and have exempted them from the obligation of frequenting
the public prayer.”
There is one more point of the Koran that might be contrasted with the
teaching of the Bible, namely, that Mohammed fostered the arrogance and
pride of his followers, without substantiating his claim:
“Ye are the best nation that has been raised up unto mankind.” Al
Koran, Chap. 3:106.
The Bible gives us some passages like the above, but they are
infinitely different in depth, height and breadth. “Ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.” I
Peter 2:9. Christian religion requires “_holiness_, without which no
man shall see God.” Heb. 12:14. “Blessed are the pure in heart; for
they shall see God.” Matt. 5:8. Christ requires of His followers an
_inward_, as well as an outward, conformity to the Character of God.
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect,” is the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. Mohammedanism
requires of its devotees the following five things: A confession of
faith that there is but one God and that Mohammed is his prophet,
prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and a pilgrimage to Mecca. For salvation,
repentance is the only means.
“Christianity recognizes the freedom of man, and magnifies the
guilt and corruption of sin, but at the same time offers a way of
reconciliation and redemption from sin, and its consequence through the
atonement of a divine Saviour and regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
“Mohammedanism minimizes the freedom of man and the guilt of sin, makes
little account of its corrupting influence in the soul, and offers no
plan of redemption except that of repentance and good works.”[117]
Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who reigned from 1876-1909, was considered
by many to be a conscientious Mohammedan. Claiming also--as all the
sultans from the time of Selim I--to be the lawful successor of the
prophet and Defender of the faith. He was, therefore, both the head
of the Mohammedan religion and also the ruler over the Mohammedan
states. In the mind of a faithful successor of Mohammed, the prophet
is the only ideal and his conduct the only guide to follow. To revive
Mohammedanism then means the suppression of all other religions as well
as the building up of all the Moslem institutions. These he continued
to do until the time of his deposition.
Mohammed and his immediate successors offered to the conquered the
choice of one of three things--Islam, slavery, or death. Some of the
conquered accepted Islam, and thus ended their trouble on earth; others
were put to death by the conquerors, who saved their victims from the
misery of the world; those who neither accepted Islam nor were put to
death were made semi-slaves. Both the Arabs and later the Turks needed
some source of revenue which they derived from the subject nations,
and also needed a class of skilled artisans and laborers. The Greeks
and Armenians were very important for the maintenance of the Turkish
empire, especially in its early years, and up to the middle of the last
century. These nations, whether Armenians, Greeks, Jews or Syrians,
however, were considered no more than prisoners of war, and were always
liable to have the offer of Islam or death presented to them at any
time as the caprice of the ruler may choose.
Again, the hatred and arrogance instilled into the minds of the
devotees of the religion of Mohammed by the prophet and his imitators,
fill every devout Mohammed with the desire, not so much to see the
conversion of the world to Mohammedanism, as to wish and pray that
Allah may destroy the infidels--non-Moslems--and give all their
possessions to the Mohammedans. Hence, the official prayer of the
Mohammedans which was used throughout Turkey and daily repeated in the
Cairo Azhar University by the ten thousand Mohammedan students from all
lands. It is translated from the Arabic:
“I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the _regiem_ (the accursed).
In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful! O Lord of all
Creatures! O Allah! Destroy the infidels and polytheists, thine
enemies, the enemies of religion! O Allah! Make their children
orphans, defile their abodes, and cause their feet to slip; and give
them, and their families, and their households, and their women, and
their children and their relatives by marriage, and their brothers,
and their friends, and their possessions, and their race, and their
wealth, and their lands, as booty to the Moslems, O Lord of all
creatures.”[118]
The writer has attempted in the preceding few pages to show, from the
Koran and from such writers as the late Dr. Jesup of Beirut (Syria)
and the late Dr. Washburn of Constantinople, who had been in contact
with Mohammedanism and Mohammedans almost half of a century or more,
whose authority and integrity cannot be questioned, what Mohammedanism
is and what it teaches. No Mohammedan ruler, or a common believer in
Mohammed’s religion, especially one who claims to be his successor,
dare do otherwise than what the Koran and the example of the prophet
teach him. Not one of the grants, permits, promises of reform,
liberty of religion, protection of persons, honor and property of the
Christian subjects in the empire, made by the sultans under pressing
circumstances, or by pressure from without, were ever intended to be
kept. Because they could not conscientiously fulfill those promises and
remain faithful Mohammedans.
One more thing which deserves to be noted is the missionary fire
kindled in the heart of every Mohammedan by the Koran and the
Mohammedan divines; we refer to the propagation of Islam by the sword.
The extension of the Mohammedan religion depends on the expansion
of the Mohammedan reign. Hence the sword is the great Mohammedan
Missionary.
“Under the head of the civil laws [of Mohammedanism] may be
comprehended the injunction of warring against the infidel, which is
repeated in several passages of the Koran, and declared to be of high
merit in the sight of God; those who are slain fighting in defense of
the faith being reckoned martyrs, and are promised immediate admission
into paradise. Hence this duty is greatly magnified by the Mohammedan
divines, who call the sword the key of heaven and hell.”[119]
Mohammed himself inaugurated this by his teaching and example as the
following incident--one of many--shows: There was a Jewish colony
settled within a short distance from the city of Medina. They have been
happily and prosperously living there for a long time in all things
like the Arabs except their religion. They adhered to their ancestral
faith and refused to believe in Mohammed as the apostle of God. This
was like a thorn in Mohammed’s flesh. He gathered a sufficient force
and attacked them. The Jews thought their fortified town was a secure
refuge for them wherein they sheltered themselves. Mohammed besieged
the town and in a short time reduced it to submission by starvation.
Then followed the terrible slaughter of all the men--about eight
hundred. It took a whole day, beginning early till late at night, to
chop off their heads and throw their bodies into a trench. And the
booty, and some women and children, he divided among his faithful
warriors, and the rest he sold to the Arabs. But for himself--for his
sensual gratification--he selected the most beautiful Jewess, Rihanah
by name, and he kept her.
In the following pages the reader will see more of the sequel of his
infernal teaching and example in the lives and acts of his followers.