ISLAM, THE FUTURE OF. 



441 



TABLE OF THE MECCA PILGRIMAGE OF 1S80. 



they differ so widely that they must be consid- 

 ered as not only distinct from, but hostile to, 

 each other; but not so irreconcilably so but 

 that they all allow the rest to be distinctly 

 within the pale of Islam, and will pray on oc- 

 casion in each other's mosques, and kneel at the 

 same shrines on pilgrimages. 



The Sunnite, the orthodox and predominant 

 sect of Islam, is subdivided into three consid- 

 erable sects or schools of theology. The Hane- 

 fite sect, which is most largely represented in 

 the pilgrimage, is the school to which the 

 whole Osmanli race and the official classes, in- 

 cluding the vice-regal courts of Egypt, Tripoli, 

 and Tunis, and the courts of most of the Indian 

 princes, are attached. It is the most conserva- 

 tive of the sects, and holds, according to the 

 expositions of the Turkish Ulerna, that the 

 elaboration of new doctrine is absolutely closed, 

 and that nothing can be added to or taken away 

 from the already existing body of religious law. 

 It has, however, become extremely lax as to 

 practice. 



The Malekite sect is "puritanical, fierce in 

 its dogma, severe in its morals," and embraces 

 the most fervent and most fanatical of the be- 

 lievers men of ostensible and sincere piety, 

 who " represent more nearly than any other 

 Mussulmans the ancient earnestness of the 

 Prophet's companions." It includes the Ara- 

 bian and African tribes west of the Nile, and 

 the Fellahin of- the Delta. It also believes 

 that inquiry has been closed, and change is im- 

 possible. 



The Shafite sect is the most numerous, and 

 embraces most of the Arabs out of Africa, the 

 mass of the Mussulman population in India, at 

 least where Arabian influence prevails, and the 

 Malay Mohammedans. The Shafites appear 

 disposed to widen rather than narrow the area 

 of theology, are more humane than the other 

 sects in their bearing toward infidels, " finding 

 a common ground with them in the distinction 

 between right and wrong," entertain ideas of a 

 moral reformation, and appear to feel, without 

 being willing to admit it, an indefinite desire 



to see Islam united once more, even at the ex- 

 pense of some dogmatic concessions. 



A fourth sect, the Hanballite, is included 

 among the Sunnite bodies, but it now has only 

 a few followers. 



The Shiites number, outside of Persia, one 

 million Iraki Arabs, five million in India, a 

 few in Syria and Afghanistan, and isolated 

 groups near Medina and in the large cities of 

 the West. They refuse to tolerate the preten- 

 sions of any one now in authority to the title 

 of Imam and Caliph, but hold it in abeyance, 

 awaiting the advent of the Mohdy, or leader, 

 who is to reunite Islam ; and a belief is said to 

 prevail among them that reform is at hand, 

 and the leader may be expected at any moment 

 and from any quarter. The religious bitterness 

 between this division of Islam and the Sun- 

 nites has sensibly declined within the last fifty 

 years. 



The heretical sect of the Abadhiyeh are found 

 only in Oman and Zanzibar. They simply re- 

 ject all communion with the Sunnites, and deny 

 all Khalifal history and authority later than the 

 reign of Omar, as well as all the later tradi- 

 tions. Allied to them are the Zeidites of Yemen, 

 whose sympathies lie on the side of liberality 

 of opinion and reform in morals, but whose 

 sole importance, their numbers being few, lies 

 in their geographical proximity to Mecca. 



The Wahabite movement has failed as an 

 effort to regenerate the Mohammedan world 

 politically, but the spirit of reform it awakened 

 has remained, with effects that may be seen in 

 the present unquiet attitude of expectation in 

 Islam its indirect result. In Arabia the zeal 

 of the Wahabites has declined, and has given 

 place to liberal ideas. 



The Chinese Mohammedans are scattered 

 and isolated, and can not well be placed in any 

 of the general groups. 



The relative numerical inferiority of the Ot- 

 toman Mohammedans is strikingly exhibited in 

 the census-table. Ottoman thought appears in 

 quite as subordinate a position when Islam is 

 viewed in perspective. This was exemplified 



