THOUGH
there have boon 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 Mesina, 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. (Draycatt’s
Mahomet, page 234 et eq)
5. He ordered ferocious
and inhuman punishments to be inflicted ; (Draycott,
253-254)
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. Zwennner, 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 signed up by the Mohammedan law-givers
in the folloing 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.
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