Page:The Moslem World - Volume 02.djvu/17

 and usage are incorporated into it. It inspires a deep sense of brotherhood, aboKshes caste distinction and difference between rich and poor, high and low. Every Moslem is a preacher of its faith. Islam has no organised missions and no propagating organisations. The priest of a mosque is supported by the people round about, and his business is to give their children secular and religious teaching.

Alas, the Christian faith is not presented to Moslems in India in its united form, but as a house divided against itself. The importance of the crucified Christ as the Incarnation of love has been subordinated to that of a limited theological statement and restricted religious sympathies. It has been introduced by people belonging to the ruhng race, whose rehgious Ufe does not appeal to the Oriental mind. Racial pride and race-distinction are often m evidence in church as well as elsewhere. The ordinary European takes exception to being led by a dark-skinned priest in his praj^ers, while the Amir of Afghanistan Tsdll unliesitatingly be led by any Moslem priest. Very often on admission to the Christian fold a convert is disappointed. A lapsed Christian convert from Islam wrote to me thus : "So long as I was not baptised I was respected, I was given an honorable seat, I was introduced to people as a respectable person, but since I have been regenerated through baptism I am suspected, and my visits to the Padri Sahib*s house were considered waste of time ; the poor missionary had no time to see me." So-called Christians in India often indulge in gam- bling, the Derby Sweep, lotteries and drink, all of which are forbidden by Islam. One of the chief sources of revenue is unrighteous, derived as it is from intoxicating drugs and hquors. Religious duties are neglected ; on Sundays the churches are empty, but clubs are overcrowded.

I would therefore suggest the following thoughts on " The Nearest Way to the Moslem Heart." (1) Missionaries particularly set apart for Moslems ought always to be men of the largest intellectual training. They must have a knowledge of Islam, with reference to its weak points and its points of contact with their ovm.