THE EXAMPLE OF MOHAMMED
Though there have been great Mohammedan civilizations that have
contributed much to the world’s progress and have left imperishable
monuments, they have not lasted. They have arisen through the
fundamentally noble character and intelligence of the peoples that have
founded them, and have flourished for a relatively short time rather
in spite of their creed than because of it. And, as is the case in all
religions, the example set by the originator has had a greater influence
on his disciples than his book. The Prophet is deeply reverenced by all
Mohammedans who regard even one hair from his beard as having miraculous
power.
The main facts of his life and his general character are known to them.
These salient facts will now be set forth without bias of hostility or
irreverence. They are authentic and well established. The reader is
invited to confirm them and determine for himself whether or not they are
correctly stated:
1. Mohammed was a polygamist;
2. After leaving Mecca and proceeding to Messina, where he established
himself for a time, he organized and conducted raids against caravans,
which he robbed to replenish his depleted treasury;
3. He besieged and plundered towns for the booty, which acts he justified
by “revelations”;
4. He ordered eight hundred Jewish prisoners to be separated from their
wives and children and butchered and their bodies thrown into a trench.
Their wives and families were sold into captivity. This was the first
Mohammedan massacre;[15]
5. He ordered ferocious and inhuman punishments to be inflicted;[16]
6. He removed his enemies by murder and assassination.
We have seen how faithfully this example has been followed by the Turks
throughout the years since the fall of Constantinople, and especially
by the Young Turks since their accession to power. But although other
branches of the Mohammedan race have shown conspicuous qualities of heart
and of head, yet a general study of the spread of that religion from its
inception reveals only too clearly the influence of the Prophet’s example
as well as of his teachings. Says Pears, already quoted:
“The history indeed, of Egypt, of Syria and of Asia Minor had
been a long series of massacres, culminating perhaps in that
of Egypt where in 1354, when the Christians were ordered to
abjure their faith and accept Mohammedanism and refused, a
hundred thousand were put to death.”
Adrian Fortescue, in his work, _The Lesser Eastern Churches_, has this
paragraph:
“In 1389, a great procession of Copts who had accepted Mohammed
under fear of death, marched through Cairo. Repenting of their
apostasy, they now wished to atone for it by the inevitable
consequence of returning to Christianity. So as they marched,
they announced that they believed in Christ and renounced
Mohammed. They were seized and all the men were beheaded in
an open square before the women. But this did not terrify the
women; so they, too, were all martyred.”
Regarding the Armenian massacres of our own time, Doctor Johannes
Lepsius, to whose masterly _Secret Report_ reference has been made in
earlier pages, makes the following statement:
“We have lists before us of 550 villages whose surviving
inhabitants were converted to Islam with fire and sword; of
568 churches thoroughly pillaged, destroyed and razed to the
ground; of 282 Christian churches transformed into mosques;
of 21 Protestant preachers and 170 Gregorian (Armenian) who
were, after enduring unspeakable tortures, murdered after
their refusal to accept Islam. We repeat, however, that these
figures reach only to the extent of our information, and do not
by a long way reach to the extent of the reality. Is this a
religious persecution or is it not?”
Christianity, then, has been cleaned out of North Africa and the old
Byzantine Empire, the home of the early Fathers of the Church and of the
Seven Cities, largely by massacre; the Turk, when he burned Smyrna and
made Asia Minor solidly Mohammedan, finished a work that has been going
on for centuries.
Not only have these methods been used for propagating Mohammedanism, but
the “Law of Apostates” prescribes death, forced separation from wife and
family, and loss of property and legal rights for any Moslem who forsakes
his faith and adheres to another. The fear of these dreadful punishments
is one of the reasons why there are so few converts from Mohammedanism to
Christianity. Doctor Samuel M. Zwemmer, the learned writer on Mohammedan
matters, gives many examples of the application of this law in his recent
work, _The Law of Apostasy in Islam_.
An example which came within my personal observation, the murder of the
convert of the International College at Smyrna, has already been referred
to. This is probably the same case as that cited by the Reverend Ralph
Harlow, one time pastor of the International College at Smyrna, in a
pamphlet: “Outside the Walls of Smyrna his body was found, stabbed in
many places.”
The Law of Apostasy, according to Zwemmer, is summed up by the
Mohammedan law-givers in the following words:
“As for Apostates, it is permitted to kill them by facing
them or coming upon them from behind, just as in the case
of Polytheists. Secondly, their blood, if shed, brings no
vengeance. Thirdly, their property is the spoil of true
believers. Fourthly, their marriage ties become null and void.”
The educated, Europeanized Turk of Constantinople is a shrewd and
polished gentleman of seductive manners; but one thing must never be
forgotten by those interested, financially or otherwise, in the future of
Turkey; that country has been made “homogeneous” by a series of ferocious
massacres carefully planned and relentlessly carried out by just such
polished and seductive gentlemen, who have exploited Moslem fanaticism
for their purposes, and it is on that fanaticism that their power rests.