Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/655

Rh him and kiss the dust of his feet. Equally valuable are the ink of the doctor and the blood of the martyr. The world is supported by four things only—the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the good, and the valor of the brave."

Men who could feel and utter such truths might well have something to do in the world. On the 16th of July, 622 Mohammed fled for his life from Mecca to Medina; eighty years passed, and Syria, Persia, Northern Africa were subdued, and the Moslem host stood upon the southern coast of the straits of Gibraltar, prepared for the conquest of Spain. Mohammed made a nation.

It were most interesting to obtain a philosophical account of this man's character and career. This is not, however, in the line of our present purpose. It is sufficient here to remember that monotheism was the one lesson taught the Semitic race. The original God-idea was One Being, God over all. It is very justly remarked that, in the opinion of Mohammed, this idea had been narrowed by Judaism: God had become the God of Israel. Again, this idea had been falsely developed by Christianity in her doctrine of the Trinity, and in her anthropomorphic Saviour. Directly opposed to both of these is the proclamation of the Prophet, "There is but one God, the Living, the Ever-living, the Holy, the Self-contained, and Mohammed is his prophet."

This pure monotheism recognizes no distinctions among men; no Jews, no Christians, no classes—God is one God. Here is the source of Mohammed's power.

Our literature is filled with testimonials to the marvelous expression which Arabian culture received in Spain. There is no need to enumerate the schools of learning or the achievements of this people in every direction. I am confident that a few words from the Arabians themselves will do more than can be accomplished in any other way, to show their attainments in thought and feeling.

In Persia the faith of Islam became a mystical pantheism; this finds beautiful expression in the lines of Rumi, who died in the year 1262:

 I am the little sun-dust—I am the great sun-ball; To the little dust I say remain, and to the sun, pass on. I am the morning's glimmer, I am the evening's haze; I am the wild leaves' moaning, I am the sea's high billow; I am the mast, the rudder, the steersman, and the ship; I am the physician, the sickness, the poison, and the antidote; The sweet, the bitter, the honey, and the gall; I am the chain of Being, I am the ring of worlds."

To this all-soul humanity should make complete surrender: