Page:The Moslem World - Volume 02.djvu/38

 A WORKING LIBRARY ON ISLAM


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following list of books is intended as a guide for those who desire to make a thorough study of Islam and the Moslem problem from a missionary standpoint. It consists of a working library for those who are trying to fit themselves to deal with Moslems personally and to understand the Moslem mind so as to be able to meet them on their own ground, and in the apostolic sense, to become Moslems to Moslems that we may win them for Christ. The immense literature on the subject of Islam in the various languages of Europe and the Orient is perplexing to the beginner. There is an enormous bibliography on the subject, and present day interest in the scientific study of Islam, politically, socially and religiously, is as great as it ever was. In fact, the marked unrest of all Moslem peoples and the reform movements in Islam itself have stimulated literary production. It would require an expert in every department of Islam to guide the student through this labyrinth of literature. Experts, therefore, will doubtless find much to correct and more to suggest in the list given. It is based on practical experience in a busy missionary's life. An omnivorous reader in the field of Islam soon finds that Bacon's words are true: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly and with diligence and attention." The last named class are the only ones worth buying and studying. They form a working library. In the division of the subject I have received valuable suggestions from the recently published pamphlet by G. Simon, Wegweiser durch die Literatur der MoJiammedanermission (Halle, 3911). The handbook named, however, is only an index to literature in the German language. While our list is intended primarily