Page:The Moslem World Vol XI.djvu/98

78 in Spanish moulds; Spanish are the names of her streets, Spanish the currency, Spanish the press and theatre and the songs in the mouths of her children; even the young diplomat setting his foot for the first time on the quay discovers before passing through the gates that his highly prized smattering of Arabic is less useful than the tongue of that old African Cervantes. In fact, as a Britisher writing to a London paper last month expressed it: "One hardly knows whether one is in a Moorish city in Spain or a Spanish city in Morocco."

In the Review of Religions for July 1920 Mahmud Ahmed raises this question as follows:

"Another thing we ought to take thought of, is why are all these calamities being showered on Islam? What after all is the reason that God instead of befriending Islam has begun to deal with it like an enemy? The God, Who was once wont to display the signs of His Omnipotence in support of Islam, why does He now fail to manifest in its aid any of the wonders of His Power? It can plainly be seen that the Mussalmans have forsaken the teachings of the Holy Koran and have consequently become a prey to all these calamities. They have by their own mouths conceded to Jesus a rank superior to that of the Holy Prophet (peace be on him). It is therefore my advice that instead of wasting your time in useless deliberations, you should immediately make your peace with God and seek His blessings. You may well remember what I told you on the occasion of the conference of September, that at present there is only one way open for the regeneration of Islam, namely, that we should all stand up in order to preach its truth. The antipathy with which the Turks are regarder in Europe is not due to any defect of their administration but to the notion ingrained in the European mind that Islam is the foe of civilization. It is therefore that the European cherishes a desire to see the overthrow of Islam, which he regards as opposed to everything which he holds most dear. Accordingly, so long as this notion has not been eradicated from the mind of Europe and for that matter from the mind of the whole Christian world, there will be no end to the calamities of the Moslems. In truth, the humiliations, which the Moslem world has for the time being been undergoing are not so much an affliction of the earth as a visitation from Heaven. The Moslems have reached such a condition by reason of turning their backs to the simple teachings of the Holy Koran and their salvation lies only in offering a suitable atonement for their past negligence, in reforming their own character and in faithfully delivering to the world the message, which for this purpose was entrusted to them. God had assigned it as a duty of the Mussalmans that they should carry the message of Islam to all the corners of the earth. But they turned their backs on this duty and cared not a straw for its discharge. Then it was that God wanted to point out to them that the discharge of the duty was a matter of profit to themselves and not to their God. For the fact is, that if there were not left in the world a single man following the truth of Islam, still it would make no difference in the dominion of God. The difference would be in the character of the Mussalmans themselves and in their security. Therefore, even now the remedy which may grant the Mussalmans immunity from these calamities lies in this, that they should stand up for the vindication of Islam. Political power did not come to the Moslems previous to the advent of Islam. It only followed the latter. So even now, when Islam has once been