Show = 10 IlAIDIEDANISM Growth ntHl Grcat RcmRrkable fle11Ifl Its Vitality the past five and twenty years During extraordi jlolunnmedanism has made steadily in Africa moving firY Ind progress and southward Meanwhile Chris In is stationary and in spite of every tinnit to extend it i the fetichChristiamly effOIt en remains almost the only sinia Abyssinia of f in the white mans religion m of deuce liricn outside of Egypt proper The fir Asiatic monotheism is as com Inter mastering the earlier as it did m i 11letely centuries after the promulgation the first sad fS of Mohammed It is a of the faith Chris fttosav but it is true that a to say thing improved fJdSffofe not always a negro tianizcd negro while the Modernized negro proved Bclfregpocting man bold krSfilhttothe death for his rehg dytofigUttoiuc cause wInch ho an indeed for any lOn or Some 01 these men wo are may take up in the heart of Africa noW encountering 111 the moment of altel and relentless utterly careless of hut victory death themselves they are when the hght15 for the faithWhat it in the faith they have What is that thus ciuboldC1S them 1 adopted fighting Ile of splendid There are tribes experiences with groCS in Africa the as jSantcS and other the Zulus taught us but the negro races 1110 inferior typO dovelOlS I after ho 1 en of iiii a Mohammedan qualities he ievei shown before Something on 13 hcnWlS neycr told about ten years ago by i W Blvden himself a negro 3Ir 1 Srnal of the Presbyterian high schOOl and f Liberia West Africa By com ± his evidence with that of others So Lave fought side by side with the louses on the west coast or have wit wrought among cer nessed the change in the neighborhood of tam tribes tl m Zanzibar we can obtain a fair idea of what is really going on To begin with Moham matter that already jt is no light medanism controls nearly all the most energetic tribes and numbers among its adherents the highest social organization on the continent Futah Masma Bornou Wady Darfur Kordofan Sennaar Tim Imctoo etc are nIl Mohammedan and the religion is respected all over Africa I even where the people have not yet accepted ac-cepted the Koran To quote Mr Blyden himself a Nonconformist Christian remember re-member No one can travel any distance dis-tance in the interior of west Africa without with-out being struck by the different aspects of society in different localities according as the population is Pagan or Mohammedan Moham-medan Not only is there a difference in the methods of government but in the general regulations of society and even in the amusements of the people > The love of tcrpsichorean performances so noticeable in Pagan communities disappears disap-pears as the people come under the influence i in-fluence of Mohammedanism It is not a fact that when the sun goes down all 1 Africa dances but it might be a fact were it not for the influences of Islam The negroes become fanatics throw aside their fetichworship and their moral tone is immediately raised In all this the Koran arts a most important part It unites the most widely separated races in a common sentiment and in a general antagonism an-tagonism to paganism From the time Then they embrace Mohammedanism the t I success of Islam is their one idea Xor have the Mohammedan missionaries any special advantages beyond those of their creed in dealing with the negroes The como neither as conquerers nor as wealthy men They find the negroes free and they go about among them in the purest spirit of propogandist fanaticism The Arab missionaries live in poverty Mttle down unobtrusively among the people they have come to convert con-vert the native missionaries are traders as well as preachers No attempt is made to destroy the fabric of native institutions institu-tions Mohammedanism without changing chang-ing its teaching is adapted to the negro the negro is not forced into the Arabian mould of Mohammedanism But the effect upon the individual is the same and when the Moslem convert is clothed with a white robe and a sword is given into his hand he becomes then and Henceforward the equal of every other tokm in the world To him I Ireforth all Mohammedans are toilers More than this equality region and education come to the Mohammedan negro at one and the fame time His whole being is elevated hIs mind freed his blackness which in contact with European Christians means inferiority exposes him to no disability nbatwef within the pale of Islam In short the negro instead of being treated as an inferior at once rises in his estimation estima-tion and in that of those around him and the Arabs who bring them the religion intermarry with the tribes with whom they convert These are some of tho reasons why our officers have found the Houssas some of the best troops they have ever led with no sense whatever of personal inferiority to the Europeans in camp with them and not at all inferior in Personal courage Thus it is that negroes who are free to choose Christianity or who like Mr BIrden have chosen it think so often that Mohammedanism is the re MRion best suited to raise the standard of We and morality among their fetich worshiping felloecountrymen Nor should we forget that the same effect is produced in India There Mohammedanism Mo-hammedanism gains ground with theme the-me result of on the whole stiffening He backs of the men who adopt it In short 1t seems hy no means improba flLl f iat the time when the Modem is 1 bon to he drIven from Europe anew a new ul powerful Impetus will 3 be given to tll 1amth elsewhere It 1S Or has been 111ashioii I fllithaSlllOn i to ecry Islam as a decaying in f denc l AfrIca at any rate > the W c i all to tIme and it lert3n contraryand is jS CIiainly Well for us to consider whether the I tle World r e1 CSt ° aminodan power in i if facts d w C ought not to take account neh not uShi1vhethcr wo like them or imi two JUust greatly affect our future Policy P co n continentflSt James Gazette |