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PEOF. I>. S. MARGOLIOUTH, D.LITT., ON 



they have, it is believed, become less strict and bigoted in the 

 observance of their religion, and Western ideas have influenced them, 

 though not apparently to the same extent as has been the case 

 among their co-religionists of the higher classes in Constantinople. 



With regard to Missions. Mohammedans in India have not 

 hesitated to include the Christian religion among the subjects of 

 their numerous public discussions. I remember thirty years ago 

 meeting Imad-ud-deen in Umritsur in the Punjab ; he had been a 

 ])igoted Mohammedan, and he was consequently chosen as a 

 champion in a discussion with Christian Missionaries. He procured 

 a New Testament on purpose to find fault with it ; but on reading 

 it prayerfully by himself, he was convinced that the Lord Jesus 

 Christ is the Son of God, and he became a Christian. A somewhat 

 similar instance occurred some years later when another discussion 

 took place at Umritsur ; a very earnest Mohammedan was again 

 one of the champions of their cause. He was summoned from 

 Afghanistan for the purpose, and was so strict in his religion that 

 he had gone to live there simply because he wished to be under a 

 INIohammedan ruler. As the discussion went on, the Mohammedans 

 lost their tempers, but the Christians kept theirs. This difi'erence 

 of behaviour so impressed the Mohammedan from Afghanistan, that 

 it led him to look further into the subject, and he too became a 

 Christian. Such public discussions must have considerable influence 

 on those who still retain the religion of the false prophet. 



It is interesting to compare the condition of things at the present 

 time in such a country as India, with, say, Morocco, where Moham- 

 medans still have political power. 



Prol:»ably there are those present who could give us facts from 

 personal knowledge, and these facts would help in the formation of 

 a forecast for the future. 



Mr. J. Hill Twigg. — There is a point on which the lecturer 

 might give us some idea, that is, the degree by which Moham- 

 medanism is kept back by extreme veneration for its classical 

 Arabic, and the difficulty that a great part of a man's life must be 

 spent in learning the Koran. 



With regard to the extent to which conversion is progressing, 

 I have never known a convert in my experience. I have met a 

 missionary of twenty or thirty years' standing, from Western India, 

 and he told me the same thing. The distinguishing point which 



