MOHAMMEDANISM. 



047 



620,000 tons ; tobacco, 23,023,000 pounds. In 

 the production of both corn and tobacco, Mis- 

 souri ranks as the fifth State; in hay, the sev- 

 enth ; in oats and potatoes, the eighth ; and in 

 wheat, tho eleventh. 



MOHAMMEDANISM. While Mohamme- 

 danism as .-i political power is rapidly declin- 

 ing, it is steadily increasing in the number of 

 its adherents. Dr. Dollinger, in an address de- 

 livered before the Bavarian Academy of Sci- 

 ence on March 28, 1879, estimated the total 

 number of Mohammedans as about one fifth of 

 the population of the earth. According to 

 this, the Mohammedans would number about 

 288,000,000, a figure considerably higher than 

 any other estimate, and probably too high. The 

 progress of Mohammedanism is especially noted 

 in Africa and India. The following is an ap- 

 proximate statement of its statistics at the 

 close of 1879 : 



I. In Europe : 



Turkey Proper 2,650,000 



Bulgaria 600,000 



Eastern Roumelia 850.000 



Bosnia and Herzegovina. 442,000 



Koumania 120,000 



Bervia 75.000 



Montenegro 25.000 



Russia. 2,885,000 



Total 6,627,000 



II. In Asia : 



Russia 6,064,000 



Turkey 18,000,000 



Persia 6,900,000 



Arabia 8,700,000 



India 50,000.000 



China 5,000,01)0 



Afghanistan and Beloochigtan 4,630,000 



States of Central Asia 8,000,000 



Indian Archipelago 23,000,000 



An:un 50,000 



Total .. 115,144,000 



III. InAfrica 110,000,000 



Grand total 231,771,000 



Dr. Dollinger, in the address above referred 

 to, treated very fully of the recent bistory of 

 Mohammedanism. The following extracts sup- 

 plement the article given in last year's "Annual 

 Cyclopedia " : The religion of the Arabian 

 Prophet exhibits at present a singular phe- 

 nomenon. On the one hand it develops 

 throughout Asia and Africa a power of ex- 

 pansion, a fertility of proselytism, in which it 

 surpasses by far the Christian churches; and, 

 on the other hand, there appear symptoms of 

 inner decay, especially a disease which is com- 

 mon to all Mohammedan states and threatens 

 them with dissolution, incompetency to govern. 

 The sultanate is now on the point of dying 

 out, as formerly the caliphate. The old hier- 

 archical state system of Arabia is extinct. 

 The subsequent hermaphroditic creation of the 

 semi-hierarchical, semi-military state system, 

 which has its type in the Osmanio Empire, is 

 now likewise approaching dissolution, and a 

 new third form is not well conceivable so long 

 as the Koran remains the sonrce of all law ; for 

 the primitive and loose tribal association which 

 is found among the Bedouins is not well suited 

 for a larger state system. If, on the other hand, 



we look at the marvelous power of expansion 

 by which the Arabian religion peaceably, by 

 means of conversion, achieves at present the 

 most rapid and extensive conquest, we stand 

 before an historical enigma. It is becoming a 

 powerful current in Africa; entire nations in the 

 interior of that continen t, who but recently were 

 pagans or worshipers of fetiches, have now be- 

 come believers in the Koran. In China the 

 Moslems have become so numerous that they 

 could risk an insurrection. In Tongking they 

 already number fifty thousand. Among the 

 Malays of the Indian Archipelago they have 

 made even in our days hosts of proselytes. 

 From Sumatra the Islam has spread over Java, 

 and since the establishment of the Dutch rule 

 the entire population of Java (about eighteen 

 millions) has become Mohammedan. The larger 

 portion of Sumatra, and at least one half of 

 Borneo and Celebes, have been gained for 

 the Islam. Wherever in the Indian Archipel- 

 ago a population hitherto pagan stands under 

 Dutch dominion, the Islam makes rapid prog- 

 ress, while Christianity, on the other hand, in 

 spite of missionaries and missionary societies, 

 either is advancing very slowly or even retro- 

 grades. Pilgrimages to Mecca, which are so 

 greatly facilitated by the introduction of steam- 

 ships, are said to be one of the principal causes 

 of this rapid progress of Mohammedanism, be- 

 cause the numerous pilgrims or hadjis after 

 their return generally become zealous mission- 

 aries of the Prophet of Mecca. The Islam in 

 eastern Asia and Africa derives a great advan- 

 tage from the fact that the propagation of the 

 faith is not regarded as the work of any par- 

 ticular class or society, but that every Moslem 

 considers himself obliged to take part in the 

 conversion of the infidels. In British India, 

 especially in the Northwestern Provinces, the 

 conversions to Mohammedanism are likewise 

 numerous, and they take place all the more 

 easily because many Brahman ideas and customs 

 have crept into Indian Mohammedanism. Thus 

 the fifty million Mohammedans may become for 

 the British dominion a great support or a great 

 danger. In a conflict between Russia and 

 England they would undoubtedly side with 

 England, for Russia is regarded throughout 

 the East as the hereditary foe of the Islam. 

 Russia threatens Persia, dismembers Turkey, 

 and subjugates the khanates of Central Asia. 

 The Russian people look upon every war with 

 Mohammedans as a religious war, and the 

 number of the Mohammedan subjects of Rus- 

 sia in Siberia has considerably decreased under 

 the influence of the Russian authorities. On 

 the other hand, the Mohammedan faith leaves 

 to the Mohammedan inhabitants of a country 

 ruled over by infidels only the choice of emi- 

 grating or establishing by force of arms an or- 

 thodox government. This doctrine is espe- 

 cially diffused in India by the itinerant preach- 

 ers of the Wahabee sect, the puritans of the 

 Islam. Destruction of the English rule and 

 reestablishment of the caliphate are the aim* 



