Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/54



three summer conferences of American young people, not long ago, the question was asked, "If you were not a Christian, what would you prefer to be?" The large majority of the class in each of the three conferences voted for Islam first, with Confucianism a close second.

Most young people are aware that Islam is a religion that stands for only one God, and that it is opposed to idolatry. In fact, they may have heard that Islam is actually very similar to Christianity in many respects; that the Koran contains many of the Old Testament stories of the prophets, and that Jesus himself is accorded a high place in the estimation of Moslems. In other words, Islam would appeal to such young people because, from what they know of it, it seems to be more like Christianity than any other religion.

If you ask the Moslem, he will tell you that it is not a matter of debate, and not an open question at all whether Islam is better than the other religions of mankind. Islam, he assures you, is the one perfect religion today in the world. The Moslem believes this because the Koran says so. In one of its verses he finds