Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/155

Rh restrain the most hot-headed among the fanatical followers of the Prophet from irresponsible and bootless attempts, advising rather the formation of organized units that will be ready for concerted action whenever a general movement may be proclaimed.

All this that the mullah told me in Fez I later verified in other places in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia through talks with natives and colonists. Also I learned accidentally that a Moslem congress took place at Baku on September 8th, 1920, under the aegis of Russia and in the presence of Enver Pasha, in the deliberations of which three delegates from French North Africa, sent by a native organization in Paris, as well as eight delegates from Egypt participated. While I was still north of the Mediterranean, I likewise learned that Amanullah Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan, had accepted the conception of the early prophet, Abd Allah, and had recognized Lenine as the Messiah of the eighth historic period, regarding himself as the Messiah's vice-regent in Asia.

Before he finished, the mullah of Kairween said with real sadness and impressive seriousness:

"The white men have in their Holy Writ the principle of love for their fellow-men, but this has remained only in writing. Verily, what are you doing among yourselves in your own countries? You drown your soil in blood, you perpetrate hideous crimes, you kill the divine spirit in you with your fighting for gold, for luxury and for power over other peoples. Each nation ought to live according to the law which Allah gave to it, a law that resides in the soul. One nation ought to help another and not persecute it. Your faith has drifted far away from