326 REY. S. M. ZWEMER, F.R.G.S., ON THE WAHABIS: 
marks from the Wahabis. With them, too, tobacco is 
strictly forbidden ; they prohibit pilgrimage to the tombs of 
saints; luxuries of dress are forbidden, and the war against 
infidels is a duty; intercourse with Jews or Christians is not 
permitted, and he ideal state is one of Moslems only. ‘This 
Sanusiyah order is very numerous and powerful from 
Morocco to the Malay Archipelago. Its secret agents are 
everywhere. At Mecca they have a strong branch aad twelve 
other centres of power in other parts of Ksia.* 
In conclusion, what is the relation of the Wahabi re- 
formation and its results to Christian missions among 
Moslems? ‘The most unfavourable result has been in Arabia 
itself, by practically building a wall of fanaticism around the 
old Wahabi state, and postponing the opening of doors to 
commerce and Christianity in that part of the peninsula. 
On the other hand, the positive and negative results of the 
Wahabi movement on Moslem thought have, I think, had 
favourable effect on Christian missions. Islam in its primi- 
tive state is nearer the truth than Islam with all its added 
superstitions and additions of later date. The Koran can 
more easily be inade our ally in the battle for the Gospel 
than the interpretations of the four Imams. According to 
Hughes, “the Christian doctrines of the Trinity and the 
Sonship ef Christ do not present the same difficulties to the 
mind of a Wahabi which they do to that of a Sunni.” 
Negatively, Wahabiism is a strong argument that Islam, 
even when reformed to its original purity, has no power to save 
a people. ‘There is no better polemiv against Islam than a 
presentation of the present intellectual, social, and moral 
condition of Arabia. Cradled at Mecca, fostered at Medina, 
and reformed at Deraiah, the creed of Islam hag had 
undisputed possession of the entire peninsula almost since its 
birth. In other lands, such as Syria and Egypt, it remained 
in contact with a corrupt form of Christianity, or, as in India 
and China, in conflict with cultured paganism, and there is 
no doubt that im both cases there were (and are to-day) 
mutual concessions and influences. But inits native Arabian 
soil the tree planted by the prophet has grown with wild 
freedom, and brought forth fruit after its kind. *‘ By their 
fruits ye shall know them” is Christ’s criterion in the study 
of comparative religions. As regards morality, Arabia is on 
* See an article on the Religious Orders of Islam in the Indian 
Witness, March 11th, 1898, by Rev. E. Sell, B.D., M.R.A.S. 
