Mohammedanism

California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · OAKLAND, CAL. · Dec 31, 1874

MOHAMMEDANISM may be gaining ground in India, but according to Rev. Dr. Hamlin, of Constantinople, it is losing in Turkey and Persia. Among other indications of this, he mentions the fact that the great public charities of Islam, which have adorned some period of its history, have nearly all disappeared. Pilgrimages, prayer, fasting and alms-giving are the chief works of merit. In the 15th and 16th centuries works of charity were numerous and magnificent. Schools, caravansaries, and hospitals of various kinds were built and well endowed. Lands and buildings, indestructible by fire, were placed under the care of the clergy for their support. Hardly one of them now exists. Some of the buildings were too solid to perish, but the funds are lost—"eaten up." No modern works of beneficence take their place. The age of charities, of "pious' foundations," as they termed them, has passed away. This is surely a sign of decadence, and one of great significance.