Page:The Moslem World - Volume 02.djvu/16

 these samples of ours. We are not introducing our goods where there are none Hke them, but rather do we have to show that we have, that our Head can supply a better article than has been known before. The Moslem has something of all these things that we would offer to him with Christianity, and unless he is convinced that we have in our own characters and lives more than he,—more of love and benevolence, more of brotherliness and pity, more of true prayer and true submission to God—our progress will be slow indeed. There are things in the Moslem faith of which he is proud, and justly so. We must show him that in these we are better Moslems than he. There are things in which his faith is lacking. We must show him in these our riches, that he may recognise his poverty. It is in this very way, the evidential value of Christian love and pity, that our hospitals are such a help in reaching the heart. In the opportunity given for brotherly help lies the present value of our schools.

All this means that the nearest way is the hardest way for us. We have first to know the Moslem heart and the things he holds dear. We cannot know, understand, appreciate, without first loving. We have to touch his heart with our hearts, to come into intimate contact with his life. For this we want no faltering tongue nor imperfect means of communication. We want to enter into his life and forget the things in which we think our own civilisation is superior. In short, we must approach him just as Christ approached the people of Judea and Galilee. And it is only by such a way of self-denial and service that we can get near enough to show, to show forth those things that commend our faith and will lead our Moslem brother in God's providence, to accept of it as his only comfort in life and death.

Busrah, Arahia.

Islam, notwithstanding its simplicity and apparent monotony, is subhme to the average mind. It is urged with impassioned faith and has no monotony under its surface; much of its teaching is only a restatement of old truths with fresh force. Elements of popular belief