Show UPON ISLAM A BOLD DEFENSE OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE KORAN A Com pariton of th point of tu religion that HT tyr their the attl luid th korn dilora Demo oraey AL coald not r the baet ny better than be does if he had bees bom there and we copy from ble sew volume souvenirs monde a few novel views and considerations addressed especially to statesmen ind thinkers the greater portion of the precepts of tho koran have a meaning which ea capes na because that meaning is at variance with conr ideal and conr manners and this ia what gives rise to political errors of an reach the do not fail to return the attacks that are mado apon them conceding to us the advantage in a material and scientific point of view they held that the richea and learning of the few do not make the happiness ot the many and they claim superiority for their moral and social constitution essentially democratic in ita origin islam has a sumptuary law which put tax of 2 percent upon the jewels of women and apon all objects of luxury this money has served tor centuries to assist poor tradesmen and to buy them toola thanks to the prohibition of wine and spirits the social problem is solved for them on seeing aba dangers that hover over conr civilization the compare it to the smoking remains of a burned tent they think that if it should disappear in the flames of anarchy for want of an organic principle it would be incapable of rising again from ite abbee while their faith maintains order in everything the condition sine qua non of progress you accuse ua they say of being depraved ara you less so you who keep ap perpetual orgies in your great expose your half clad wives and daughters at balls and feasts and allow them to be whirled around in tha arms of anybody and everybody you reproach us for conr ignorance in order to pass through life with honor your instruction st is not so good aa ours thanks to the proverbs and the rules of wisdom that ara taught to our children they conduct themselves like little men with you the men and even tha learned conduct themselves like little children yon chang our functionaries function aries with venality who contributes to its establishment if it is not the vulgar herd of traders of every claas that europe has scattered all over the east you cry down our judiciary we too have a right to accuse yours you charge with fatalism fatalists wa ire just lure your learned men and your philosophers aho vho base their calculations apon the immutability of natural laws resigned in the face of plagues cata and death we say it waa written for the rest wa follow the words of the prophet ono day the prophet an arab visitor what he had dona with his camel the arab replied 1 have left him at thy gate hast thou tied him inquired the prophet no I 1 have left him to the cara of god thou hast done wrong raid mohammed thou first have tied him and then mended him to god the christian doctrines of predesta and of grace are more depressing than our fatalism your ignorance of islam makes yon confound slavery with ancient slavery and that which existed until recently in russia and in brazil with the there are no slaves all are brothern br othera not in the platonic sense of the bible bat actually having the bame law and the same positive according to the terms of the koran unlike christianity ti islam has neter treated as salable things transmissible with tha land troops of men who professed the common faith as ws dona with the berts of tha middle agea the of russia and the cf your colonies prisoners of war are the only slaves that h recognizes but their children are bom free and they themselves can become 0 o oy embracing islam it is the custom from time immemorial in certain countries for parents to jart with their children for money in order to ward off poverty and open ap to themselves a career of fortune by virtue of ca reer is limitless in east how many laves have become generals and ministers almost all the sultana have been the sons of slaves the blade llaves taken from central africa find in egypt ind in turkey a fata incomparably superior to that of the slaves of your colonies slavery is for savages the first step toward civilization if their recruiting and their transportation give rise to fault is not with islam neither the biblo nor tha koran is responsible for abuses the proclaim the superiority of their allah but they acknowledge moses as a prophet and jesua as allah the soul of god their veneration for jesus extends to tho mother the immaculate conception introduced into catholicism by pios 1 baa bean for twelve centuries a belief to the extreme simplicity of tho dogma most ba added tho positive enjoy ments which the paradise of mohammed opi osea to the platonio joys of the christian in order to comprehend the reaia tanco of klam to all at tempha at conversion christianity ia menace lalami fim a promise prom ife said napoleon 1 and his opinion ia worthy of meditation paris bisaro Fi saro |