RELIGIONS.
Islam and Christianity--A few Pagan Communities--Origin
of Mohammedanism--The Koran--The Traditions--Extent of
Islam--Present Condition--Effect upon the Turks--Contact with
Civilization--Sects--Oriental Christianity--Characteristics.
The religions of Turkey are in general two--Mohammedanism and
Christianity. The semi-pagan forms of faith held by the Nusairiyeh,
Yezidis and Druzes are spoken of in another chapter in connection with
an account of those races. This is not the place for a scientific
statement of the general subject of Mohammedanism. The purpose of this
volume is to set forth the situation of the Turkish Empire as it is,
and we have to deal with Mohammedanism not as a theory or a doctrine,
but as a fact. At the same time some understanding of the doctrine is
essential in order to realize how potent a factor it is in the present
situation.
Mohammedanism is primarily a historical religion, based upon the
fundamental idea of the absolute unity of God and the recognition
by God of Mohammed as his latest and most approved prophet. Without
entering into the question of the sanity or insanity of Mohammed
himself, it is sufficient to say that this Arab imbibed with his
earliest teachings the doctrine which was held by the Jews, and a
few in Arabia, of the power of the Deity. Apparently the teachings
of the Hebrews had left their trace upon him, and his mind dwelling
upon the precepts of Moses and comparing them with what he saw of the
Christians, developed within him a hostility to any form of what seemed
to him idolatry, such as he found existent everywhere. Among the pagan
tribes there were said to have been 365 images of the gods, who were
looked upon as the children of Allah, the creator of all, whose wife
was Al-hat, and the Meccans looked upon their local deities as the
daughters of this idol. Idols were found in every house and formed an
important article of manufacture. Religion was a sort of barter, and
festivals and pilgrimages made up a large part of religious life and
worship. At the same time the form of Christianity was of the most
inferior type. The doctrine of the Trinity was practically a sort of
tritheism in which the three persons were God the Father, God the Son
and the Virgin Mary. To Mohammed there seemed little difference between
the two and both appeared to him the very lowest forms of religious
faith, and he was stirred with an earnest desire to know more. This,
according to the idea of the time, he thought to accomplish by a hermit
life and would spend days in a lonely cave. While here it is probable
that epileptic fits would come upon him and there would be what he
considered ecstatic reveries in which revelations appeared to him.
The story of the fierce persecution which he suffered at the hands
of his tribe is a most interesting portion of history. From the time
of his fleeing from Mecca to Medina, in 622, which marks the era of
Mohammedanism, his advance was rapid. In eight years at the head of
10,000 men he entered Mecca in triumph. He only lived two years longer,
but he had laid the foundation for a religious power of marvelous vigor
and extent. As to his character, those who have studied him most say
that there can be no doubt of his sincerity and his conduct was in the
main beyond reproach. He believed himself to be a divinely appointed
messenger for the overturning of idolatry, and for years endured the
hostility and taunts of his people with apparently no further motive
than their reformation. At a later time other characteristics appeared
of a much lower grade. Wealth and glory mingled with his reform ideas.
Cruelty, greed and the grossest sensuality were not merely allowed but
encouraged by his teachings, and the most successful portion of his
life, so far as his public career was concerned, made it appear that he
was a thoroughly self-deceived man.
The Koran is a volume divided into 114 chapters or suras, made up in
a volume not quite as large as the New Testament. It constitutes the
revelation proclaimed by him as received during the latter portion
of his life. These were originally written on all sorts of material,
“bits of stone, leather and thigh-bones,” but had their strongest hold
in the retentive memory of the Arabs, which assists their marvelous
power of story-telling. These were gathered together after his death,
in the caliphate of Othman, and the edition then prepared has been the
standard edition for the Moslem world ever since. It is written in
the Meccan dialect and held to be the absolute standard of the Arabic
language, so beautiful that its very style is proof of its divine
origin. The doctrine of the Koran is thoroughly simple. The fundamental
teachings are the unity of God, the final judgment and absolute
submission to his will or “Islam.” The confession of faith is simply,
“There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet.” The general
belief includes belief in God, angels, the Scriptures, the resurrection
and day of judgment, God’s absolute decree and predestination of
both good and evil. In practice it requires prayers, alms, fasting
and the pilgrimage to Mecca. In its relation to Christianity the
Koran thoroughly recognizes the Scriptures, both of the Old and New
Testaments, and the prophets, from Abraham to Jesus, are acknowledged
as divinely sent and of authority only less than Mohammed himself. The
result of this is that a thoroughly orthodox Mohammedan, well grounded
in his own faith, will always accept the authority of the Bible, merely
claiming that wherever that comes in contact with the Koran the Koran
supersedes it as being a later revelation. A Kurdish Sheik with whom
the author spent a Sunday in the city of Rowandiz, said, “Why do not
the great Bible societies of England and America print the Koran and
the Bible together? Both are revelations from God; the only difference
is, that the Koran being later is more authoritative. Print them both
together and then we shall have the complete revelation.” This fact
explains in great degree the position of the Turkish Government with
regard to the Scriptures. So long as they thought that there was
no danger of the Christians’ Bible superseding the Koran they were
entirely willing that it should be printed. It was only when they
learned that the teaching of the Bible was antagonistic to the Koran
that they made every effort to hinder its publication and circulation;
and in the whole contest the strongest argument and the one which they
could not answer was that based upon the absolute recognition of the
Bible by the Koran and the teachings of Mohammed.
Secondary to the Koran in form yet practically overpowering it are
the traditions: the “unread revelations,” the “uninspired record of
inspired sayings.” They refer “not only to what Mohammed said and
did, but what he allowed others to say unrebuked.” As was inevitable,
the mass of these traditions is very great and their influence is
proportionate. Any statement of Mohammedanism based upon the Koran
alone is sure to be misleading. That together with the traditions must
be understood in order to gain a clear and accurate conception of what
the religion is. It is due to this fact that Mohammedanism has adapted
itself with such marked success to the most varying conditions. It is
as powerful in Central Asia as in Central Africa. It appeals to the
educated Moslem of North India and to the ignorant and brutal Kurd. It
numbers among its votaries men of every grade of intellectual ability.
This is illustrated by the statement as to the extent to which the
religion has spread over the world. Any accurate estimate is simply
impossible owing to the fact that in Moslem regions there is no such
thing as a complete census known. _The Encyclopædia of Missions_
presents the following table derived from the _Statesman’s_ year-book
published in 1890:
EUROPE.
Rumania 2,000
Bulgaria 668,173
Servia 14,569
Bosnia and Herzegovina 492,710
Montenegro 10,000
Greece 24,000
Turkey in Europe 2,000,000
Russia in Europe 2,600,000
---------
Total for Europe 5,811,452
ASIA.
Turkey in Asia (including Arabia) 22,000,000
Persia 7,560,600
Bokhara 2,500,000
Russia in Caucasus 2,000,000
Khiva 700,000
Russia in Central Asia 3,000,000
Siberia 61,000
Afghanistan 4,000,000
India 50,121,595
Ceylon 197,775
Beluchistan 500,000
China 30,000,000
Australasia 15,000,000
-----------
Total for Asia 137,640,970
AFRICA.
Egypt 6,000,000
Zanzibar 200,000
Morocco 5,000,000
Tripoli 1,000,000
Tunis 1,500,000
Algeria 3,000,000
Bornu (Lake Tsad) 5,000,000
Wadai 2,600,000
Baghirmi 1,500,000
Egyptian Soudan 10,400,000
Sokoto and Feudatory States 14,000,000
Sahara and scattered 10,000,000
----------
Total for Africa 60,200,000
Total for Europe 5,811,452
Total for Asia 137,640,970
Total for Africa 60,200,000
-----------
Total Moslems 203,652,422
What is the effect of Mohammedanism upon the Moslems of the Turkish
Empire? What relation does it bear to the situation in Turkey to-day?
These are questions not altogether easy to answer definitely and
conclusively. A general idea is gathered from references made all
through this volume. The situation may be briefly summarized as
follows: Mohammedanism is on trial; it finds itself face to face with
the aggressive power of a reformed Christianity; it no longer has
to meet the effete systems of the middle ages, weakened by purely
doctrinal discussions that spread among the Christian Churches for
centuries. It comes in contact thus with a truer spiritual life, and
finds that it has suffered itself in its conceptions the same decadence
that Christianity had suffered when it started. The belief in the unity
of God is degenerating into pure and simple fanaticism; predestination
to good has disappeared, and in place of it comes predestination
to evil. The better characteristics of the Moslem influence have
disappeared, and it is only the worst elements that come to the surface
to-day. True there is an element in the Moslem Church that realizes,
in a degree at least, this fact and is making strenuous efforts to
reinstate the spiritual power to which the system has owed a large
part of its aggressive strength, but it is doing it and has done it by
means utterly subversive of the very ends it seeks to accomplish. From
time to time there go forth fetvahs from the Moslem priests commanding
the faithful to attend the mosque service, forbidding the faithful to
indulge in certain things forbidden by the Moslem laws. But such edicts
accomplish absolutely nothing. There is still to a certain degree the
practice of the old asceticism. Any one who will attend a meeting of
the Board of Censors in Constantinople will realize the truth of this
as he looks upon the hard-visaged Tartars from Central Asia, whose
fanaticism is manifest in every line of the countenance. But with
them their religion has ceased to have any spiritual power. It has
become nothing more than a form of doctrine identified with aggression
and despotism. Eternal punishments take the place of eternal rewards
and threats overpower promises. This manifests itself in two ways:
first, in the tremendous pressure brought to bear upon the government
to restore the austerities of the Moslem faith, and second, in the
manifestation of the sternest Moslem arrogance in the treatment of the
Christians. Scarcely at any time in Turkish history has that arrogance
been more prominent in certain sections and among certain classes. The
scorn and contempt manifest for the infidel; the utter disregard for
the most common rights of humanity; the assumption that Christians
exist purely and simply for the benefit of Mohammedans; that rapine,
murder and outrage are not criminal, but are absolutely legitimate;
that Christian property has no rights that Moslems are bound to
respect; all these characteristics are apparent to-day as they have not
been at any time during the past century.
It is impossible for races such as the Moslem races of the Turkish
Empire to come into contact with the results of a Christian
civilization without realizing and acknowledging to a considerable
degree the advantages of that civilization. These, recognizing the
fact that Islam has adapted itself to very varying communities and
circumstances, claim that it has still that power and that there is
no reason why the highest results of European progress may not be
appropriated by the Moslems. These men form the basis of what is known
as the Young Turkey party. They call for a constitution; they demand
railroads and telegraphs, electric lighting, free press, widespread
literature, freedom of thought and worship; they refuse to allow
that attendance upon mosque service is the test of loyalty to their
government. The strife between these two forces is one of the most
interesting and significant facts in Mohammedanism to-day. What the
result will be time only will show. One more thing should be said. The
exclusive power of the Moslem faith has never been manifested more
forcibly than it is now. No form of Christianity has affected it to any
appreciable extent. The reasons for this will be recognized by any who
have followed with care the developments of the past centuries.
They are to be found (1) in the dominating political power of the
religion, and (2) in the fact that as yet to only a limited degree has
there been any general perception of a truer spiritual power. This last
has affected some, but the great mass are utterly untouched. Should the
political break-up of the empire come, then there are many indications
that the ecclesiastical power will weaken and with it the force of the
faith. Many Turks have spoken of this in private, not daring to set it
forth in public.
The great characteristic of Mohammedanism which is most manifest in
the dealings of Moslems with each other and with the world at large,
is the fact that it recognizes no moral obligation of any kind. Sin
is merely transgression of statute; falsehood, deception, robbery,
murder, have no moral quality whatever. They are entirely legitimate
when used for the furtherance of the Moslem State and even for the
furtherance of individual advantage. Undoubtedly there are individual
Moslems everywhere who have a strong moral sense, but the great mass
of the Moslem community is utterly ignorant of what evangelical
Christians understand by the sense of sin. Mistakes are to be atoned
for by punishment, penance or remission of penalty; forgiveness in the
Christian sense of the term is almost absolutely unknown. Hence arises
one of the fundamental difficulties in dealings between Turkey and
Christian nations. The Christian Governments unquestionably are bad
enough in this respect, but the Moslem Government is far worse. It is
a fundamental element in the Moslem creed that “no faith is to be kept
with an infidel.” This has been carried out throughout the whole of
Turkish history and will continue to be carried out until the Moslem
system is overcome.
A word should be said with regard to the different sects of
Mohammedanism. Mohammed himself is reported to have said that the
children of Israel were divided into 72 sects, and his people would
be divided into 73. A Moslem writer says that there are 150 sects in
Islam, but the infinite shades between them make them practically
innumerable. The two great divisions of the Moslem world are Sunnites
and Shiites. The first follow the first three caliphs after Mohammed;
the latter regard these as illegitimate and commence with the caliphate
of Ali, the prophet’s nephew. The former embrace by far the larger part
of the Moslem world. The latter are chiefly confined to Persia, though
they are represented in a considerable degree in Turkey, especially by
some tribes of Kurds. The Shiites believe that the last Imam is still
alive and will appear as the Mahdi (director), after which the judgment
day will follow. Some of them even go so far as to give Ali divine
honors, holding him to be greater than Mohammed. They are as a rule far
more deceitful than the Sunnites, and observe certain fasts denied by
the orthodox. The Sunnites are divided into four great sects and these
again into a number of smaller ones. One, the most important, includes
in greater part the Moslems of Turkey, Central Asia and Northern
India; the second those of Southern India and Egypt; the third those
of Morocco, Barbary and Northern Africa generally; the fourth those of
Eastern Arabia and some parts of Central Africa.
Sikhism is a strange mixture of Hinduism and Mohammedanism in Northern
India. In Persia there are two great sects of considerable power:
the Sufis and the followers of Bab. These, however, have no relation
especially to Turkey. In Arabia, there is a sect, the Wahhabees, which
was at one time very powerful and in the early part of the present
century occasioned the Turkish Government considerable trouble. The
most prominent development of Mohammedanism of late years has been the
rise of the Mahdi, in the Sudan. To describe this at length is beyond
our limits. It arose in the dissatisfaction with the caliphate of the
Turkish Sultan, and the belief that the sheik who called himself the
Mahdi was in reality the one who was to lead Islam in its final victory
over the world.
In its relations to Christianity Islam allows absolutely no apostasy.
The death penalty is still existent in Persia, and while nominally
forbidden in Turkey, it is at least exile and often death for any Turk
to accept Christianity.
The different forms of Christianity are spoken of in connection
with the different races. A few statements, however, should be made
in regard to them in general. The characteristics manifested by all
the different Oriental churches are essentially the same; a strict
formalism in doctrinal belief and in worship, a very general lack
of spiritual life and an intense devotion to the national idea as
identified with church life. It is to this very largely that is due
the racial unity of the different classes, and while there has always
been through the centuries a great deal of true devotion to Christian
faith, it is unquestionably the fact that the national strife that
centered about propositions or the most abstruse facts of philosophical
theology, seems in many respects impossible to those of different
race and different education. The same characteristics, however, that
existed then exist to-day in considerable measure, and this must be
remembered in all consideration of the situation of Christians and the
development of Christian communities in the empire.
It must be remembered also that the rivalries first occasioned by these
theological differences and afterwards developed by the peculiar system
of government adopted by the Sultans, has done very much to intensify
the peculiarities of each of these sects. They are bitterly opposed
one to the other. Armenians will have nothing to do with Greeks, and
Greeks are bitterly opposed to the Armenians; Gregorian Armenians hate
those of their own race connected with the Roman Catholic Church, and
the Greeks despise the Bulgarians, although another branch of their own
general faith; Nestorians, Chaldeans, Jacobites, all strive against
each other. The position of the Protestants is somewhat peculiar. At
first they were looked upon merely as one additional sect developing
an additional nation, and to that extent detracting from the power of
those from whom they sprung, and they were hated by all. Of late years,
however, it has become evident that they are no less national in their
feeling than those who have remained in the old churches, and they
have been recognized more and more as parts of the same nations. It is
hoped by many that, as Evangelical ideas spread in all the different
communions, there will result a drawing together, not necessarily a
unifying of forms of worship or statements of doctrinal belief, but a
sympathy which shall make them support one another rather than work
against each other.
One thing more should be said. The general effect of religious
instruction throughout the Levant has been to divorce the profession
of faith from any control of life. The idea that moral conduct was
involved in the profession of a creed seems to have disappeared from a
good many lives, and the Greek brigand will say his prayers and then
start on his pillaging expedition; the Armenian merchant will attend
service and then go forth to get the better of his opponent in trade
without the slightest regard to the use of truth in his dealings. The
same thing appears in the Moslem, the most outrageous persecutions and
terrible cruelties having been carried on under the very lead of the
Moslem Church and as a matter of faith.
[Illustration:
THE HAMIDIEH MOSQUE, located close by the Sultan’s palace, at Yildiz,
to which he goes every Friday for service. In former times it was the
custom of the Sultan to attend service on Friday in different mosques
of the city, but Abdul Hammed II. has confined his attention to this
mosque, chiefly from fear of assassination in the public streets of
the city.]
[Illustration:
TURKISH DERVISH. The dervishes correspond in the Moslem communities
to the special orders in the Roman Catholic Church. There are
different classes, itinerant and local. This is one of the better
class of local dervishes. They are feared by the people rather than
respected, and are usually men of ability and considerable force;
fanatical in the extreme and bitter haters of all Christians.]