THE FUTURE OF ISLAM. 



63 



seems to agree with the facts. It is rather curious that those 

 who lind in the Moslem religion the source of Moslem incom- 

 petence, often paint either the native Christians or the 

 European residents in blacker colours than the Moslems ; 

 indeed the books which deal with modern Constantinople 

 treat the European residents with no sort of cliarity or mercy ; 

 and both travellers and missionaries in Africa and Asia are 

 apt to describe the influence of the European as merely 

 corrupting. Since these Europeans represent men of ordinary 

 or average character, and by no means the scum of the 

 communities whence they emanate, it seems liard to make 

 Islam responsible for the backwardness of the one class of 

 the population, without making Christianity responsible for 

 some, at least, of the peccadilloes of the other. While then 

 the theory that Islam is to blame for the backwardness of 

 Mohammedan peoples is not to be rejected entirely, the degree 

 to which it is true is so exceedingly uncertain that it is 

 •dithcult to be sure of the disappearance of the system in the 

 struggle for existence. It may account in part for the 

 dilapidated steamers of the Turkish empire ; but there are 

 other causes which contribute to their dilapidation. 



What, next, is meant by the disappearance of Islam ? Many 

 •writers have asserted that Christianity must certainly take its 

 place. The Christian powers, says Lenz,^ represent civilization 

 and progress. Islam is identical with stagnation and barbarism. 

 Many other writers, especially, but not exclusively, ndssionaries, 

 could be quoted to the same effect. Some, such as Schweinfurth,t 

 •ti]^pear to hold that Christianity is the only remedy for 

 Mohammedan countries, but despair of its ever making way. 



It certainly seems unlikely that two or even three centuries 

 will see the transformation of the whole Moslem world into a 

 •Christian world, whether we accept the evidence of facts or 

 look to the working of principles. 



Of Christian missions to Mohammedans at present the most 

 that can be said apparently is that they are not complete 

 failures. Of those at Kashgar the eminent explorer Sven 

 Hedinl says, " their energies are wasted, their labours fruitless, 

 their lives empty, hard, and of none account." Of the three 

 missionaries whom he saw, one, who had laboured for ten years, 

 had never made a single proselyte ; indeed, he had made no 



* Loc. at. 



i Throvgh Asia, i, 237. 



t The Heart of Africa, ii, 435, 



