ANGLO-SAXON SUPPORT TO ISLAM.
By Editor
A STRANGE movement is in progress, which may have more important bearings on the future of missions than is now apparent. The founding of the Gordon College at Khartum, which in some respects is at least negatively a bolstering up of Islam, has now been followed by what appears to us to be a positive uplift of the whole Moslem system in West Africa. On August 7 a Mohammedan school with accommodations for 300 children was opened at Freetown, Sierra Leone, under the auspices of the acting governor, Major Nathan. Among those present was Dr. E. W. Blyden, an ardent promoter of the Moslem faith. The whole ceremonies at the opening seem to be significant of a new departure. A prayer was offered in Arabic by Alfa Oumaru, the imam of the mosque; and the same gentleman followed with a brief address, tracing the history of educational efforts among the Sierra Leone followers of the prophet. He contrasted the years 1839-1841, when the Moslem believers were persecuted, and the mosques destroyed by mobs, because the Mohammedan faith was thought to be a menace to the colony, with the more enlightened and liberal policy of the half century succeeding, when the British Government had given the adherents of the prophet both protection and toleration. He referred to the festival of the Lesser Bairam, in 1872, when Governor Sir John Pope Henessy had attended with a military escort, and to the action of Governor Sir Samuel Rowe, seven years later, when, at the Government House, he entertained, during the same festival, 700 Moslems. Then, twelve years later, Governor Hay had conveyed a fine property with ample buildings to the Moslems for educational ends, with a grant for paying instructors. These were marked stages in the advance of Islamism in West Africa, and the present elementary school is the first step toward a college. Major Nathan in reply emphasized the advantages of educational training, particularly the effect of teaching English, in fitting young men for administration in the colony, instancing Mohammedan judges in India and similar magistrates in Egypt. He counseled those present to get a good knowledge of the Arabic, in order to know the real merits of Mohammedanism. When they understood the Koran, he added, they would see that their religion was one telling them how to live, and not a religion of charms and gewgaws. Knowing English, they would have the literature and wisdom of the white man open to them; and with Arabic, they would be able to read not only the Koran, but the "Makamát" of El Hariri, known already to some of them, and the "Alif Lailat wa Lailah," the translation of which English people read with pleasure. In concluding, Major Nathan urged them not to rest content until they had in Sierra Leone a Moslem college, whence wisdom and knowledge might go forth over the whole of West Africa. It is perhaps too soon to forecast the possible effect of such a movement as this. But one thing is certain,—official sanction and positive aid are now given to the Arabic tongue and the Koran. British influence will undoubtedly be much enhanced in North and West Africa, among the millions of Mohammedans that crowd that part of the Dark Continent. But the question is whether such political ascendancy is not too dearly bought by the sanction given to the religion of Mohammed. And, as to the bearing of this and similar steps of governmental policy upon missions among the Mohammedans, there seems to be no doubt that, for a leading and so-called Protestant nation, whose network of missions enwraps the globe, to assume such an attitude of patronage toward Islam, makes Christian missions so far incongruous. We see no reason why other nations which seek to rival Britain in political and social influence should not pursue a similar course. Why should not France thus propitiate the Algerian Arabs, and Belgium the Arabs of the Kongo district? As another has said, it is a strange spectacle when two western nations that a few centuries since led on the Crusades, now unite in promoting the creed they then tried to crush, and educate the people they then sought to exterminate. It becomes a serious question what is to become of Christian missions if such a policy as that of the Sirdar and of Major Nathan is to prevail. American Protection to Islam.
A similar objection is made to the protection guaranteed to Islam in the Sulu Archipelago by the treaty made by General Bates with the sultan of the Mohammedans in that portion of the Philippines. This treaty grants the sultan an annuity from the United States Government, and permits established institutions—including slavery and polygamy—to continue unmolested. A provision is made whereby a slave may purchase freedom by paying his owner $20, but there seems to be little reason to believe that Sulu slaves have any means of obtaining the wherewithal. We believe that these provisions of the treaty are entirely against the letter and spirit of the Constitution of the United States, the Thirteenth Amendment to which distinctly says that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . . . shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction." It is also difficult to reconcile the express provision made against polygamy in Utah and that permitting it in the Sulu Islands. We grant that these are some of the knotty problems which are bound to arise from the extension of the jurisdiction of the United States to include distant peoples with established institutions so contrary to the beliefs of the American people. Should the present policy of the government be continued, it will be necessary either to "expand" the spirit and the letter of the Constitution, or to prepare for endless trouble in our dependencies. The problems are similar to those faced by England in Zanzibar slavery and Hindu polygamy. We trust that the United States Government will grapple with them promptly, and settle them righteously. —Editorial in Missionary Review