THE PROPHET OF ISLAM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8106, 29 March 1906, Page 7

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM.

In an article on Professor Mar goliouth's book on "Mohammed, ', and the Rise of Islam," the Saturday Keview says.—As a precursor of Napoleon there is much in Mohammed to admire. He introduced order and government into a country which had been distracted by inter-tribal raids and blood-feuds; he taught the Arabs to fight for a common cause, and obey a common leader; he gave them a new code of laws which, with all its faults, was immeasurably superior to anything they had possesaed before. Naturally humane, he MITIGATED THE LOT OP THE SLAVE, suppressed unnecessary bloodshed, and regulated family life. As a religious teacher, however, he was less successful. Idolatry, it is true, was abolished once for all in the Arabian peninsula; polytheism was incompatible with political union. But Mohammea made the mistake of including in his religious system aooial oustoms and habits, which thus became a stereotyped part of the Mohammedan creed. No distinction was made between the revelation which proclaimed the unity of God or inculcated the moral virtues of those which prescribed aocial and political duties. Customs and habits, accordingly, which reflected the life and IDEAS OF A HALF-SAVAGE Arab tribe in the sixth century received the sanction of religion and still hang like a millstone round the neck of the enlightened Mohammedan to-lay. So long as they remain an integral part of Islam, Islam remains absolutely incompatible with the civilisation of modern Europe. Our civilisation and the social doctrine of the Koran start from opposite conceptions of family life, and practices which would be illegal in Europe are incumbent upon every orthodox Mohammedan in a strictly Mohammedan state. It is a result of the origin of the Mohammedan creed; Mohammed sought to found a kingdom on earth and cot in heaven. It is for the same reason ••.hat the moral element is so conspicuously wanting in islam. So long as »ts followers repeat certain formulae and perfornf certain ceremonies, concluding, it may be. with a pilgrimage to Mecca, they can lie, steal, and murder at discretion, and nevertheless be secure for a place hereafter in Paradise. Indeed, if the "unbeliever" »s the viotim of the theft or murder the action is rather meritorious than otherwise. It says much for human nature that in spite of his creed the ordinary Mohammedan is a very estimable member of society, even comparing favourably with his Christian neighbours in the Balkan States and the East.