THE
PREACHING OF ISLAM
A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith
BY
T. W. ARNOLD M.A. C.I.E.
PROFESSOR OF ARABIC, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1913
TO
SIR THEODORE MORISON, K.C.I.E.
TO WHOM THE FIRST EDITION OWES ITS EXISTENCE
THIS SECOND EDITION IS DEDICATED
IN TOKEN OF LONG FRIENDSHIP
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
It is with considerable diffidence that I publish these pages; the
subject with which they deal is so vast, and I have had to prosecute it
under circumstances so disadvantageous, that I can hope but for small
measure of success. When I may be better equipped for the task, and
after further study has enabled me to fill up the gaps [1] left in the
present work, I hope to make it a more worthy contribution to this
neglected department of Muhammadan history; and to this end I shall be
deeply grateful for the criticisms and corrections of any scholars who
may deign to notice the book. To such I would say in the words of St.
Augustine: “Qui hæc legens dicit, intelligo quidem quid dictum sit, sed
non vere dictum est; asserat ut placet sententiam suam, et redarguat
meam, si potest. Quod si cum caritate et veritate fecerit, mihique
etiam (si in hac vita maneo) cognoscendum facere curaverit, uberrimum
fructum laboris huius mei cepero.” [2]
As I can neither claim to be an authority nor a specialist on any of
the periods of history dealt with in this book, and as many of the
events referred to therein have become matter for controversy, I have
given full references to the sources consulted; and here I have thought
it better to err on the side of excess rather than that of defect. I
have myself suffered so much inconvenience and wasted so much time in
hunting up references to books indicated in some obscure or
unintelligible manner, that I would desire to spare others a similar
annoyance; and while to the general reader I may appear guilty of
pedantry, I may perchance save trouble to some scholar who wishes to
test the accuracy of a statement or pursue any part of the subject
further.
The scheme adopted in this book for the transliteration of Arabic words
is that laid down by the Transliteration Committee of the Tenth
International Congress of Orientalists, held at Geneva in 1894, with
the exception that the last letter of the article is assimilated to the
so-called solar letters. In the case of geographical names this scheme
has not been so rigidly applied—in many instances because I could not
discover the original Arabic form of the word, in others (e.g. Mecca,
Medina), because usage has almost created for them a prescriptive
title.
Though this work is confessedly, as explained in the Introduction, a
record of missionary efforts and not a history of persecutions, [3] I
have endeavoured to be strictly impartial and to conform to the ideal
laid down by the Christian historian [4] who chronicled the successes
of the Ottomans and the fall of Constantinople: οὔτε πρὸς χάριν οὔτε
πρὸς φθόνον, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ πρὸς μῖσος ἢ καὶ πρὸς εὔνοιαν συγγράφειν χρεών
ἐστι τὸν συγγράφοντα, ἀλλ’ ἱστορίας μόνον καὶ τοῦ μή λήθης βυθῷ
παραδοθῆναι, ἣν ὁ χρόνος οἶδε γεννᾶν, τὴν ἱστορίαν.
I desire to thank Her Excellency the Princess Barberini; His Excellency
the Prince Chigi; the Most Rev. Dr. Paul Goethals, Archbishop of
Calcutta; the Right Rev. Fr. Francis Pesci, Bishop of Allahabad; the
Rev. S. S. Allnutt, of the Cambridge Mission, Dehli; the Trustees of
Dr. Williams’s Library, Gordon Square, London, for the liberal use they
have allowed me of their respective libraries.
I am under an especial debt of gratitude to James Kennedy, Esq., late
of the Bengal Civil Service, who has never ceased to take a kindly
interest in my book, though it has almost exemplified the Horatian
precept, Nonum prematur in annum; to his profound scholarship and wide
reading I have been indebted for much information that would otherwise
have remained unknown to me, nor do I owe less to the stimulus of his
enthusiastic love of learning and his helpful sympathy. I am also under
a debt of gratitude to the kindness of Conte Ugo Balzani, but for whose
assistance certain parts of my work would have been impossible to me.
To the late Professor Robertson Smith I am indebted for valuable
suggestions as to the lines of study on which the history of the North
African Church and the condition of the Christians under Muslim rule,
should be worked out; the profound regret which all Semitic scholars
feel at his loss is to me intensified by the thought that this is the
only acknowledgment I am able to make of his generous help and
encouragement.
I desire also to acknowledge my obligations to Sir Sayyid Aḥmad Khān
Bahādur, K.C.S.I., LL.D.; to my learned friend and colleague, Shamsu-l
ʻUlamāʼ Mawlawī Muḥammad Shiblī Nuʻmānī, who has assisted me most
generously out of the abundance of his knowledge of early Muhammadan
history; and to my former pupil, Mawlawī Bahādur ʻAlī, M.A.
Lastly, and above all, must I thank my dear wife, but for whom this
work would never have emerged out of a chaos of incoherent materials,
and whose sympathy and approval are the best reward of my labours.
Aligarh, 1896.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
The first edition of this book having been out of print for several
years and frequent inquiries having been made for copies, this new
edition has been prepared and an effort has been made to revise the
work in the light of the fresh materials that have accumulated during
the last sixteen years; but I can make no claim to have made myself
acquainted with the whole of the vast literature on the subject, in
upwards of ten different languages, which has been published during
this interval. The growing interest in Islam and the various branches
of study connected with it, may be estimated from the fact that since
1906 five periodicals have made their appearance devoted to
investigations cognate to the subject-matter of the present work, viz.
Revue du Monde Musulman, publiée par La Mission Scientifique du Maroc
(Paris, 1906– ); Der Islam, Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur des
islamischen Orients (Strassburg, 1910– ); The Moslem World, a quarterly
review of current events, literature, and thought among Mohammedans,
and the progress of Christian Missions in Moslem lands (London, 1911–
); Mir Islama (St. Petersburg, 1912– ); and Die Welt des Islams,
Zeitschrift der deutschen Gesellschaft für Islamkunde (Berlin, 1913– ).
The Christian missionary societies are also now devoting increased
attention to the subject of Muslim missionary activity and accordingly
it takes up a proportionately larger place in their publications than
before.
This second edition would have been completed several years ago but for
the illiberal policy which closes the Reading Room of the British
Museum at 7 o’clock and has thus made it practically inaccessible to me
except on Saturdays. [5] I therefore desire to express my grateful
thanks to those friends who have facilitated my labours by the loan of
books from the Libraries of the University of Leiden and the University
of Utrecht (through the kind offices of Professor Wensinck), and the
École des Langues Orientales Vivantes, Paris;—to Mr. J. A. Oldham,
editor of The International Review of Missions, I am indebted for the
loan of volumes of the Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, a set of which
I have been unable to find in London; my thanks are specially due to
Dr. F. W. Thomas, who has allowed me to study for lengthy periods
(along with other books from the India Office Library) the monumental
Annali dell’ Islam by Leone Caetani, Principe di Teano,—a work of
inestimable value for the early history of Islam, but unfortunately
placed out of the reach of the average scholar by reason of its great
cost.
I am also much indebted for several valuable indications to those
scholars who reviewed the book when it first appeared,—above all, to
Professor Goldziher, whose sympathetic interest in this work has
encouraged me to continue it.
London, 1913.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION. PAGE
A missionary religion defined. Islam a missionary religion; its
extent. The Qurʼān enjoins preaching and persuasion, and forbids
violence and force in the conversion of unbelievers. The present
work a history of missions, not of persecutions 1
CHAPTER II.
STUDY OF THE LIFE OF MUḤAMMAD CONSIDERED AS A PREACHER OF ISLAM.
Muḥammad the type of the Muslim missionary. Account of his early
efforts at propagating Islam, and of the conversions made in Mecca
before the Hijrah. Persecution of the converts, and migration to
Medina. Condition of the Muslims in Medina: beginning of the
national life of Islam. Islam offered (a) to the Arabs, (b) to the
whole world. Islam declared in the Qurʼān to be a universal
religion,—as being the primitive faith delivered to Abraham.
Muḥammad as the founder of a political organisation. The spread of
Islam and the efforts made to convert the Arabs after the Hijrah.
The ideals of Islam and those of Pre-Islamic Arabia contrasted 11
CHAPTER III.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS OF WESTERN ASIA.
The Arab conquests and expansion of the Arab race after the death
of Muḥammad. Conversion of Christian Bedouins. Causes of the early
successes of the Muslims. Toleration extended to those who remained
Christian.—The settled population of the towns: failure of
Heraclius’s attempt to reconcile the contending Christian sects.
The Arab conquest of Syria and Palestine: their toleration: the
Ordinance of ʻUmar: jizyah paid in return for protection and in
lieu of military service. Condition of the Christians under Muslim
rule: they occupy high posts, build new churches: revival in the
Nestorian Church. Causes of their conversion to Islam: revolt
against Byzantine ecclesiasticism: influence of rationalistic
thought: imposing character of Muslim civilisation. Persecutions
suffered by the Christians. Proselytising efforts. Details of
conversion to Islam.—Account of conversions from among the
Crusaders.—The Armenian and Georgian Churches 45
CHAPTER IV.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS OF AFRICA.
Egypt: conquered by the Arabs, who are welcomed by the Copts as
their deliverers from Byzantine rule. Condition of the Copts under
the Muslims. Corruption and negligence of the clergy lead to
conversions to Islam.—Nubia: relations with Muhammadan powers:
gradual decay of the Christian faith.—Abyssinia: the Arabs on the
sea-board: missionary efforts in the fourteenth century: invasion
of Aḥmad Grāñ: conversions to Islam: progress of Islam in recent
years.—Northern Africa: extent of Christianity in North Africa in
the seventh century: the Christians are said to have been forcibly
converted: reasons for thinking that this statement is not true:
toleration enjoyed by the Christians: gradual disappearance of the
Christian Church 102
CHAPTER V.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIANS OF SPAIN.
Christianity in Spain before the Muslim conquest: miserable
condition of the Jews and the slaves. Early converts to Islam.
Corruption of the clergy. Toleration of the Arabs, and influence of
their civilisation on the Christians, who study Arabic and adopt
Arab dress and manners. Causes of conversion to Islam. The
voluntary martyrs of Cordova. Extent of the conversions 131
CHAPTER VI.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS IN EUROPE UNDER THE
TURKS.
Relations of the Turks to their Christian subjects during the first
two centuries of their rule: toleration extended to the Greek
Church by Muḥammad II: the benefits of Ottoman rule: its
disadvantages, the tribute-children, the capitation-tax, tyranny of
individuals. Forced conversion rare. Proselytising efforts made by
the Turks. Circumstances that favoured the spread of Islam:
degraded condition of the Greek Church: failure of the attempt to
Protestantise the Greek Church: oppression of the Greek clergy:
moral superiority of the Ottomans: imposing character of their
conquests. Conversion of Christian slaves.—Islam in Albania,
conquest of the country, independent character of its people,
gradual decay of the Christian faith, and its causes;—in Servia,
alliance of the Servians with the Turks, conversions mainly from
among the nobles except in Old Servia;—in Montenegro;—in Bosnia,
the Bogomiles, points of similarity between the Bogomilian heresy
and the Muslim creed, conversion to Islam;—in Crete, conversion in
the ninth century, oppression of the Venetian rule, conquered by
the Turks, conversions to Islam 145
CHAPTER VII.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN PERSIA AND CENTRAL ASIA.
Religious condition of Persia at the time of the Arab conquest.
Islam welcomed by many sections of the population. Points of
similarity between the older faiths and Islam. Toleration.
Conversions to Islam. The Ismāʻīlians and their missionary system.
Islam in Central Asia and Afghanistān 206
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE MONGOLS AND TATARS.
Account of the Mongol conquests. Buddhism, Christianity and Islam
in rivalry for the allegiance of the Mongols. Their original
religion, Shamanism, described. Spread of Buddhism, of
Christianity, and of Islam respectively among the Mongols.
Difficulties that stood in the way of Islam. Cruel treatment of the
Muslims by some Mongol rulers. Early converts to Islam. Baraka
Khān, the first Mongol prince converted. Conversion of the Īlkhāns.
Conversion of the Chaghatāy Mongols. History of Islam under the
Golden Horde: Ūzbek Khān: failure of attempts to convert the
Russians. Spread of Islam in modern times in the Russian Empire.
The conversion of the Tatars of Siberia 218
CHAPTER IX.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN INDIA.
Distribution of the Muhammadan population. Part taken by the
Muhammadan rulers in the propagation of Islam: conversion of
Rajputs and others.—The work of the Muslim missionaries in India;
traditions of early missionary efforts in South India, forced
conversions under Ḥaydar ʻAlī and Tīpū Sulṭān, the Mappillas:—in
the Maldive Islands:—in the Deccan, early Arab settlements, labours
of individual missionaries:—in Sind, the rule of the Arabs, their
toleration, account of individual missionaries, conversion of the
Khojahs and Bohras:—in Bengal, the Muhammadan rule in this
province, extensive conversions of the lower castes, religious
revival in recent times.—Particular account of the labours of
Muslim missionaries in other parts of India. Propagationist
movements of modern times. Circumstances facilitating the progress
of Islam: the oppressiveness of the Hindu caste system, worship of
Muslim saints, etc.—Spread of Islam in Kashmīr and Tibet 254
CHAPTER X.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN CHINA.
Early notices of Islam in China. Intercourse of the Chinese with
the Arabs. Legendary account of the first introduction of Islam
into China. Muslims under the Tʼang dynasty: influence of the
Mongol conquest; Islam under the Ming dynasty. Relations of the
Chinese Muslims to the Chinese Government. Their efforts to spread
their religion 294
CHAPTER XI.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN AFRICA.
The Arabs in Northern Africa: conversion of the Berbers: the
mission of ʻAbd Allāh b. Yāsīn. Introduction of Islam into the
Sudan: rise of Muhammadan kingdoms: account of missionary
movements, Danfodio, ʻUthmān al-Amīr Ghanī, the Qādiriyyah, the
Tijāniyyah, and the Sanūsiyyah. Spread of Islam on the West Coast:
Ashanti: Dahomey. Spread of Islam on the East Coast: early Muslim
settlements: recent expansion in German East Africa: the Galla: the
Somali. Islam in Cape Coast Colony. Account of the Muslim
missionaries in Africa and their methods of winning converts 312
CHAPTER XII.
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.
Early intercourse between the Malay Archipelago and Arabia and
India. Methods of missionary work. History of Islam in Sumatra; in
the Malay Peninsula; in Java; in the Moluccas; in Borneo; in
Celebes; in the Philippine and the Sulu Islands; among the Papuans.
The Muslim missionaries: traders: ḥājīs 363
CHAPTER XIII.
CONCLUSION.
Absence of missionary organisation in Islam: zeal on the part of
individuals. Who are the Muslim missionaries? Causes that have
contributed to their success: the simplicity of the Muslim creed:
the rationalism and ritualism of Islam. Islam not spread by the
sword. The toleration of Muhammadan governments. Circumstances
contributing to the progress of Islam in ancient and in modern
times 408
APPENDIX I.
Letter of al-Hāshimī inviting al-Kindī to embrace Islam 428
APPENDIX II.
Controversial literature between Muslims and the followers of
other faiths 436
APPENDIX III.
Muslim missionary societies 438
Titles of Works cited by Abbreviated References 440
THE PREACHING OF ISLAM
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
Ever since Professor Max Müller delivered his lecture in Westminster
Abbey, on the day of intercession for missions, in December, 1873, it
has been a literary commonplace, that the six great religions of the
world may be divided into missionary and non-missionary; under the
latter head fall Judaism, Brahmanism and Zoroastrianism, and under the
former Buddhism, Christianity and Islam; and he well defined what the
term,—a missionary religion,—should be taken to mean, viz. one “in
which the spreading of the truth and the conversion of unbelievers are
raised to the rank of a sacred duty by the founder or his immediate
successors.... It is the spirit of truth in the hearts of believers
which cannot rest, unless it manifests itself in thought, word and
deed, which is not satisfied till it has carried its message to every
human soul, till what it believes to be the truth is accepted as the
truth by all members of the human family.” [6]
It is such a zeal for the truth of their religion that has inspired the
Muhammadans to carry with them the message of Islam to the people of
every land into which they penetrate, and that justly claims for their
religion a place among those we term missionary. It is the history of
the birth of this missionary zeal, its inspiring forces and the modes
of its activity that forms the subject of the following pages. The 200
millions of Muhammadans scattered over the world at the present day are
evidences of its workings through the length of thirteen centuries.
The doctrines of this faith were first proclaimed to the people of
Arabia in the seventh century, by a prophet under whose banner their
scattered tribes became a nation; and filled with the pulsations of
this new national life, and with a fervour and enthusiasm that imparted
an almost invincible strength to their armies, they poured forth over
three continents to conquer and subdue. Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North
Africa and Persia were the first to fall before them, and pressing
westward to Spain and eastward beyond the Indus, the followers of the
Prophet found themselves, one hundred years after his death, masters of
an empire greater than that of Rome at the zenith of its power.
Although in after years this great empire was split up and the
political power of Islam diminished, still its spiritual conquests went
on uninterruptedly. When the Mongol hordes sacked Baghdād (A.D. 1258)
and drowned in blood the faded glory of the ʻAbbāsid dynasty,—when the
Muslims were expelled from Cordova by Ferdinand of Leon and Castile
(A.D. 1236), and Granada, the last stronghold of Islam in Spain, paid
tribute to the Christian king,—Islam had just gained a footing in the
island of Sumatra and was just about to commence its triumphant
progress through the islands of the Malay Archipelago. In the hours of
its political degradation, Islam has achieved some of its most
brilliant spiritual conquests: on two great historical occasions,
infidel barbarians have set their feet on the necks of the followers of
the Prophet,—the Saljūq Turks in the eleventh and the Mongols in the
thirteenth century,—and in each case the conquerors have accepted the
religion of the conquered. Unaided also by the temporal power, Muslim
missionaries have carried their faith into Central Africa, China and
the East India Islands.
At the present day the faith of Islam extends from Morocco to Zanzibar,
from Sierra Leone to Siberia and China, from Bosnia to New Guinea.
Outside the limits of strictly Muhammadan countries and of lands, such
as China and Russia, that contain a large Muhammadan population, there
are some few small communities of the followers of the Prophet, which
bear witness to the faith of Islam in the midst of unbelievers. Such
are the Polish-speaking Muslims of Tatar origin in Lithuania, that
inhabit the districts of Kovno, Vilno and Grodno; [7] the
Dutch-speaking Muslims of Cape Colony; and the Indian coolies that have
carried the faith of Islam with them to the West India Islands and to
British and Dutch Guiana. In recent years, too, Islam has found
adherents in England, in North America, Australia and Japan.
The spread of this faith over so vast a portion of the globe is due to
various causes, social, political and religious: but among these, one
of the most powerful factors at work in the production of this
stupendous result, has been the unremitted labours of Muslim
missionaries, who, with the Prophet himself as their great ensample,
have spent themselves for the conversion of unbelievers.
The duty of missionary work is no after-thought in the history of
Islam, but was enjoined on believers from the beginning, as may be
judged from the following passages in the Qurʼān,—which are here quoted
in chronological order according to the date of their being delivered.
“Summon thou to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and with kindly
warning: dispute with them in the kindest manner. (xvi. 126.)
“They who have inherited the Book after them (i.e. the Jews and
Christians), are in perplexity of doubt concerning it.
“For this cause summon thou (them to the faith), and walk uprightly
therein as thou hast been bidden, and follow not their desires: and
say: In whatsoever Books God hath sent down do I believe: I am
commanded to decide justly between you: God is your Lord and our
Lord: we have our works and you have your works: between us and you
let there be no strife: God will make us all one: and to Him shall
we return.” (xlii. 13–14.)
Similar injunctions are found also in the Medinite Sūrahs, delivered at
a time when Muḥammad was at the head of a large army and at the height
of his power.
“Say to those who have been given the Book and to the ignorant, Do
you accept Islam? Then, if they accept Islam, are they guided
aright: but if they turn away, then thy duty is only preaching; and
God’s eye is on His servants, (iii. 19.)
“Thus God clearly showeth you His signs that perchance ye may be
guided;
“And that there may be from among you a people who invite to the
Good, and enjoin the Just, and forbid the Wrong; and these are they
with whom it shall be well. (iii. 99–100.)
“To every people have We appointed observances which they observe.
Therefore let them not dispute the matter with thee, but summon
them to thy Lord: Verily thou art guided aright:
“But if they debate with thee, then say: God best knoweth what ye
do!” (xxii. 66–67.)
The following passages are taken from what is generally supposed to be
the last Sūrah that was delivered.
“If any one of those who join gods with God ask an asylum of thee,
grant him an asylum in order that he may hear the word of God; then
let him reach his place of safety.” (ix. 6.)
With regard to the unbelievers who had broken their plighted word, who
“sell the signs of God for a mean price and turn others aside from His
way,” and “respect not with a believer either ties of blood or good
faith,” ... it is said:—
“Yet if they turn to God and observe prayer and give alms, then are
they your brothers in the faith: and We make clear the signs for
men of knowledge.” (ix. 11.)
Thus from its very inception Islam has been a missionary religion, both
in theory and in practice, for the life of Muḥammad exemplifies the
same teaching, and the Prophet himself stands at the head of a long
series of Muslim missionaries who have won an entrance for their faith
into the hearts of unbelievers. Moreover it is not in the cruelties of
the persecutor or the fury of the fanatic that we should look for the
evidences of the missionary spirit of Islam, any more than in the
exploits of that mythical personage, the Muslim warrior with sword in
one hand and Qurʼān in the other, [8]—but in the quiet, unobtrusive
labours of the preacher and the trader who have carried their faith
into every quarter of the globe. Such peaceful methods of preaching and
persuasion were not adopted, as some would have us believe, only when
political circumstances made force and violence impossible or
impolitic, but were most strictly enjoined in numerous passages of the
Qurʼān, as follows:—
“And endure what they say with patience, and depart from them with
a decorous departure.
“And let Me alone with the gainsayers, rich in the pleasures (of
this life); and bear thou with them yet a little while. (lxxiii.
10–11.)
“(My) sole (work) is preaching from God and His message. (lxxii.
24.)
“Tell those who have believed to pardon those who hope not for the
days of God in which He purposeth to recompense men according to
their deserts. (xlv. 13.)
“They who had joined other gods with God say, ‘Had He pleased,
neither we nor our forefathers had worshipped aught but Him; nor
had we, apart from Him, declared anything unlawful.’ Thus acted
they who were before them. Yet is the duty of the apostles other
than plain-spoken preaching? (xvi. 37.)
“Then if they turn their backs, still thy office is only
plain-spoken preaching. (xvi. 84.)
“Dispute ye not, unless in kindliest sort, with the people of the
Book; save with such of them as have dealt wrongfully (with you):
and say ye, ‘We believe in what has been sent down to us and hath
been sent down to you. Our God and your God is one, and to Him are
we self-surrendered.’ (xxix. 45.)
“But if they turn aside from thee, yet We have not sent thee to be
guardian over them. ’Tis thine but to preach. (xlii. 47.)
“But if thy Lord had pleased, verily all who are in the world would
have believed together. Wilt thou then compel men to become
believers? (x. 99.)
“And we have not sent thee otherwise than to mankind at large, to
announce and to warn.” (xxxiv. 27.)
Such precepts are not confined to the Meccan Sūrahs, but are found in
abundance also in those delivered at Medina, as follows:—
“Let there be no compulsion in religion. (ii. 257.)
“Obey God and obey the apostle; but if ye turn away, yet is our
apostle only charged with plain-spoken preaching. (lxiv. 12.)
“Obey God and obey the apostle: but if ye turn back, still the
burden of his duty is on him only, and the burden of your duty
rests on you. And if ye obey him, ye shall have guidance: but plain
preaching is all that devolves upon the apostle. (xxiv. 53.)
“Say: O men! I am only your plain-spoken (open) warner. (xxii. 48.)
“Verily We have sent thee to be a witness and a herald of good and
a warner,
“That ye may believe on God and on His apostle; and may assist Him
and honour Him, and praise Him morning and evening. (xlviii. 8–9.)
“Thou wilt not cease to discover the treacherous ones among them,
except a few of them. But forgive them and pass it over. Verily,
God loveth those who act generously.” (v. 16.)
It is the object of the following pages to show how this ideal was
realised in history and how these principles of missionary activity
were put into practice by the exponents of Islam. And at the outset the
reader should clearly understand that this work is not intended to be a
history of Muhammadan persecutions but of Muhammadan missions—it does
not aim at chronicling the instances of forced conversions which may be
found scattered up and down the pages of Muhammadan histories. European
writers have taken such care to accentuate these, that there is no fear
of their being forgotten, and they do not strictly come within the
province of a history of missions. In a history of Christian missions
we should naturally expect to hear more of the labours of St. Liudger
and St. Willehad among the pagan Saxons than of the baptisms that
Charlemagne forced them to undergo at the point of the sword. [9] The
true missionaries of Denmark were St. Ansgar and his successors rather
than King Cnut, who forcibly rooted out paganism from his dominions.
[10] Abbot Gottfried and Bishop Christian, though less successful in
converting the pagan Prussians, were more truly representative of
Christian missionary work than the Brethren of the Sword and other
Crusaders who brought their labours to completion by means of fire and
sword. The knights of the “Ordo fratrum militiæ Christi” forced
Christianity on the people of Livonia, but it is not to these militant
propagandists but to the monks Meinhard and Theodoric that we should
point as being the true missionaries of the Christian faith in this
country. The violent means sometimes employed by the Jesuit
missionaries [11] cannot derogate from the honour due to St. Francis
Xavier and other preachers of the same order. Nor is Valentyn any the
less the apostle of Amboyna because in 1699 an order was promulgated to
the Rajas of this island that they should have ready a certain number
of pagans to be baptised, when the pastor came on his rounds. [12]
In the history of the Christian church missionary activity is seen to
be intermittent, and an age of apostolic fervour may be succeeded by a
period of apathy and indifference, or persecution and forced conversion
may take the place of the preaching of the Word; so likewise does the
propaganda of Islam in various epochs of Muhammadan history ebb and
flow. But since the zeal of proselytising is a distinct feature of
either faith, its missionary history may fittingly be singled out as a
separate branch of study, not as excluding other manifestations of the
religious life but as concentrating attention on an aspect of it that
has special characteristics of its own. Thus the annals of propaganda
and persecution may be studied apart from one another, whether in the
history of the Christian or the Muslim church, though in both they may
be at times commingled. For just as the Christian faith has not always
been propagated by the methods adopted in Viken (the southern part of
Norway) by King Olaf Trygvesson, who either slew those who refused to
accept Christianity, or cut off their hands or feet, or drove them into
banishment, and in this manner spread the Christian faith throughout
the whole of Viken, [13]—and just as the advice of St. Louis has not
been made a principle of Christian missionary work,—“When a layman
hears the Christian law ill spoken of, he should not defend that law
save with his sword, which he should thrust into the infidel’s belly,
as far as it will go,” [14]—so there have been Muslim missionaries who
have not been guided in their propagandist methods by the savage
utterance of Marwān, the last of the ʻUmayyad caliphs: “Whosoever among
the people of Egypt does not enter into my religion and pray as I pray
and follow my tenets, I will slay and crucify him.” [15] Nor are
al-Mutawakkil, al-Ḥākim and Tīpū Sulṭān to be looked upon as typical
missionaries of Islam to the exclusion of such preachers as Mawlānā
Ibrāhīm, the apostle of Java, Khwājah Muʻīn al-Dīn Chishtī in India and
countless others who won converts to the Muslim faith by peaceful means
alone.
But though a clear distinction can be drawn between conversion as the
result of persecution and a peaceful propaganda by means of methods of
persuasion, it is not so easy to ascertain the motives that have
induced the convert to change his faith, or to discover whether the
missionary has been wholly animated by a love of souls and by the high
ideal set forth in the first paragraph of this chapter. Both in
Christianity and Islam there have been at all times earnest souls to
whom their religion has been the supreme reality of their lives, and
this absorbing interest in matters of the spirit has found expression
in that zeal for the communication of cherished truths and for the
domination of doctrines and systems they have deemed perfect, which
constitutes the vivifying force of missionary movements,—and there have
likewise been those without the pale, who have responded to their
appeal and have embraced the new faith with a like fervour. But, on the
other hand, Islam—like Christianity—has reckoned among its adherents
many persons to whom ecclesiastical institutions have been merely
instruments of a political policy or forms of social organisation, to
be accepted either as disagreeable necessities or as convenient
solutions of problems that they do not care to think out for
themselves; such persons may likewise be found among the converts of
either faith. Thus both Christianity and Islam have added to the number
of their followers by methods and under conditions—social, political
and economic—which have no connection with such a thirst for souls as
animates the true missionary. Moreover, the annals of missionary
enterprise frequently record the admission of converts without any
attempt to analyse the motives that have led them to change their
faith, and especially for the history of Muslim missions there is a
remarkable poverty of material in this respect, since Muslim literature
is singularly poor in those records of conversions that occupy such a
large place in the literature of the Christian church. Accordingly, in
the following sketch of the missionary activity of Islam, it has not
always been possible to discover whether political, social, economic or
purely religious motives have determined conversion, though occasional
reference can be made to the operation of one or the other influence.