XIITHE GOSPEL AND THE KORAN

The condition of affairs in Turkey since the signing of the Treaty of Berlin has been growing from bad to worse. The persecutions, unjust imprisonments, constant tortures, exiles and executions of the Armenians have been pointing to such terrible massacres as have been taking place.

The real and underlying cause of this state of things must now be more emphatically pointed out than it has yet been. In order to do this, certain facts of history must be briefly rehearsed. No Mohammedan can be expected to be any better than Mohammed himself; that he was a sensual, cruel and bloodthirsty man, and a relentless enemy to Christianity, Christians and the Jews, is manifest from the facts of history, his life and his teaching. “Christianity finds its ideal man in the Christ of the Gospels; the Moslem finds his in the Prophet of the Koran and the traditions.”

Some of the teachings of Christ and His disciples, and Mohammed and his followers will be put side by side to show the incompatibility of the one with the other, on account of the Heavenliness of the former and the infernality of the latter.

The New TestamentThou shalt love they neighbor as thyself. Matt. 22:39.Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them even as Elias did? He rebuked them.... For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. Luke 9:54-56.There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. I Tim. 2:5.Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Mat. 5:44.Jesus said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. Matt. 22.29-30.We are the sons of God, we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. I John 3:2.

The New Testament

Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself. Matt. 22:39.

Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them even as Elias did? He rebuked them.... For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. Luke 9:54-56.

There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. I Tim. 2:5.

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Mat. 5:44.

Jesus said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. Matt. 22.29-30.

We are the sons of God, we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. I John 3:2.

The KoranO true believers, wage war against such of infidels as are near you, and let them find severity in you. Al Koran, chap. 9.Verily the worst cattle in the sight of God are those who are obstinate infidels, and will not believe. Al Koran, chap. 8.When ye encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads until ye have made a great slaughter among them. Al Koran, chap. 47.There is no God but God, and Mohammed is His apostle.[114]The Mohammedan Creed.O prophet, wage war against the unbelievers, and be severe unto them, for their dwelling shalt be hell. Al Koran, chap. 9.“The meanest moslem (the Mohammedan) will have in Paradise, 80,000 servants, seventy-twohourisor girls of Paradise.[2]“Mohammed declared that when he looked down into hell, he found the greater part of the wretches confined there to be women.”[115]

The Koran

O true believers, wage war against such of infidels as are near you, and let them find severity in you. Al Koran, chap. 9.

Verily the worst cattle in the sight of God are those who are obstinate infidels, and will not believe. Al Koran, chap. 8.

When ye encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads until ye have made a great slaughter among them. Al Koran, chap. 47.

There is no God but God, and Mohammed is His apostle.[114]The Mohammedan Creed.

O prophet, wage war against the unbelievers, and be severe unto them, for their dwelling shalt be hell. Al Koran, chap. 9.

“The meanest moslem (the Mohammedan) will have in Paradise, 80,000 servants, seventy-twohourisor girls of Paradise.[2]

“Mohammed declared that when he looked down into hell, he found the greater part of the wretches confined there to be women.”[115]

Go ye, therefore and make disciples of all nations. Matt. 28:19.Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23-34.

Go ye, therefore and make disciples of all nations. Matt. 28:19.

Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23-34.

Fight thou against them until they pay tribute by right of subjection, and they be reduced low. Al Koran, chap. 9:29.“The Lord destroy the Jews and Christians.”[116]Mohammed.(The above is Mohammed’s last prayer before he died.—Author).

Fight thou against them until they pay tribute by right of subjection, and they be reduced low. Al Koran, chap. 9:29.

“The Lord destroy the Jews and Christians.”[116]Mohammed.

(The above is Mohammed’s last prayer before he died.—Author).

The Bible gives women a place of great importance and service both in the Old and New Testaments. The temple had its women’s court, the synagogues and early churches had their respective places for women. Their importance and helpfulness both in the church at home and abroad are of inestimable value. But Mohammed confined them, wholesale, to the infernal regions. Ali Bey (1807) (a great authority on Mohammedanism, and a devout Mohammedan himself, whom the lateDr.Jessup quotes in his work above referred to), says: “As the prophet has not assigned any place for women in his Paradise, the Mohammedans give them no places in the mosques and have exempted them from the obligation of frequenting the public prayer.”

There is one more point of the Koran that might be contrasted with the teaching of the Bible, namely, that Mohammed fostered the arrogance and pride of his followers, without substantiating his claim:

“Ye are the best nation that has been raised up unto mankind.” Al Koran, Chap. 3:106.

The Bible gives us some passages like the above, but they are infinitely different in depth, height and breadth. “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.” I Peter 2:9. Christian religion requires “holiness, without which no man shall see God.” Heb. 12:14. “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” Matt. 5:8. Christ requires of His followers aninward, as well as an outward, conformity to the Character of God. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” is the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. Mohammedanism requires of its devotees the following five things: A confession of faith that there is but one God and that Mohammed is his prophet, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and a pilgrimage to Mecca. For salvation, repentance is the only means.

“Christianity recognizes the freedom of man, and magnifies the guilt and corruption of sin, but at the same time offers a way of reconciliation and redemption from sin, and its consequence through the atonement of a divine Saviour and regeneration by the Holy Spirit.

“Mohammedanism minimizes the freedom of man and the guilt of sin, makes little account of its corrupting influence in the soul, and offers no plan of redemption except that of repentance and good works.”[117]

Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who reigned from 1876-1909, was considered by many to be a conscientious Mohammedan. Claiming also—as all the sultans from the time of Selim I—to be the lawful successor of the prophet and Defender of the faith. He was, therefore, both the head of the Mohammedan religion and also the ruler over the Mohammedan states. In the mind of a faithful successor of Mohammed, the prophet is the only ideal and his conduct the only guide to follow. To revive Mohammedanism then means the suppression of all other religions as well as the building up of all the Moslem institutions. These he continued to do until the time of his deposition.

Mohammed and his immediate successors offered to the conquered the choice of one of three things—Islam, slavery, or death. Some of the conquered accepted Islam, and thus ended their trouble on earth; others were put to death by the conquerors, who saved their victims from the misery of the world; those who neither accepted Islam nor were put to death were made semi-slaves. Both the Arabs and later the Turks needed some source of revenue which they derived from the subject nations, and also needed a class of skilled artisans and laborers. The Greeks and Armenians were very important for the maintenance of the Turkish empire, especially in its early years, and up to the middle of the last century. These nations, whether Armenians, Greeks, Jews or Syrians, however, were considered no more than prisoners of war, and were always liable to havethe offer of Islam or death presented to them at any time as the caprice of the ruler may choose.

Again, the hatred and arrogance instilled into the minds of the devotees of the religion of Mohammed by the prophet and his imitators, fill every devout Mohammed with the desire, not so much to see the conversion of the world to Mohammedanism, as to wish and pray that Allah may destroy the infidels—non-Moslems—and give all their possessions to the Mohammedans. Hence, the official prayer of the Mohammedans which was used throughout Turkey and daily repeated in the Cairo Azhar University by the ten thousand Mohammedan students from all lands. It is translated from the Arabic:

“I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, theregiem(the accursed). In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful! O Lord of all Creatures! O Allah! Destroy the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the enemies of religion! O Allah! Make their children orphans, defile their abodes, and cause their feet to slip; and give them, and their families, and their households, and their women, and their children and their relatives by marriage, and their brothers, and their friends, and their possessions, and their race, and their wealth, and their lands, as booty to the Moslems, O Lord of all creatures.”[118]

The writer has attempted in the preceding few pages to show, from the Koran and from such writers as the lateDr.Jesup of Beirut (Syria) and the lateDr.Washburn of Constantinople, who had been incontact with Mohammedanism and Mohammedans almost half of a century or more, whose authority and integrity cannot be questioned, what Mohammedanism is and what it teaches. No Mohammedan ruler, or a common believer in Mohammed’s religion, especially one who claims to be his successor, dare do otherwise than what the Koran and the example of the prophet teach him. Not one of the grants, permits, promises of reform, liberty of religion, protection of persons, honor and property of the Christian subjects in the empire, made by the sultans under pressing circumstances, or by pressure from without, were ever intended to be kept. Because they could not conscientiously fulfill those promises and remain faithful Mohammedans.

One more thing which deserves to be noted is the missionary fire kindled in the heart of every Mohammedan by the Koran and the Mohammedan divines; we refer to the propagation of Islam by the sword. The extension of the Mohammedan religion depends on the expansion of the Mohammedan reign. Hence the sword is the great Mohammedan Missionary.

“Under the head of the civil laws [of Mohammedanism] may be comprehended the injunction of warring against the infidel, which is repeated in several passages of the Koran, and declared to be of high merit in the sight of God; those who are slain fighting in defense of the faith being reckoned martyrs, and are promised immediate admission into paradise. Hence this duty is greatly magnified by the Mohammedandivines, who call the sword the key of heaven and hell.”[119]

Mohammed himself inaugurated this by his teaching and example as the following incident—one of many—shows: There was a Jewish colony settled within a short distance from the city of Medina. They have been happily and prosperously living there for a long time in all things like the Arabs except their religion. They adhered to their ancestral faith and refused to believe in Mohammed as the apostle of God. This was like a thorn in Mohammed’s flesh. He gathered a sufficient force and attacked them. The Jews thought their fortified town was a secure refuge for them wherein they sheltered themselves. Mohammed besieged the town and in a short time reduced it to submission by starvation. Then followed the terrible slaughter of all the men—about eight hundred. It took a whole day, beginning early till late at night, to chop off their heads and throw their bodies into a trench. And the booty, and some women and children, he divided among his faithful warriors, and the rest he sold to the Arabs. But for himself—for his sensual gratification—he selected the most beautiful Jewess, Rihanah by name, and he kept her.

In the following pages the reader will see more of the sequel of his infernal teaching and example in the lives and acts of his followers.

FOOTNOTES:[114]“When Gibbon declared that Islamic motto ‘There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his apostle,’ asserts an eternal truth and an eternal lie, he truly expressed its duplex and inconsistent character.”—Jesup, “The Mohammedan Missionary Problem,” p. 15.[115]Jesup, “The Mohammedan Missionary Problem,” (published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, Phila.), p. 38.[116]Schaff’s Religious Encyclopædia, Vol. II, p. 1542.[117]Barrows, “The World’s Parliament of Religions,” Vol. I, p. 579, the paper on Mohammedanism by Washburn.[118]Jesup, “The Mohammedan Missionary Problem,” p. 31. Presbyterian Board of Publication, Phila.[119]Sale’s “Koran,” preliminary discourses, p. 110.

[114]“When Gibbon declared that Islamic motto ‘There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his apostle,’ asserts an eternal truth and an eternal lie, he truly expressed its duplex and inconsistent character.”—Jesup, “The Mohammedan Missionary Problem,” p. 15.

[115]Jesup, “The Mohammedan Missionary Problem,” (published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, Phila.), p. 38.

[116]Schaff’s Religious Encyclopædia, Vol. II, p. 1542.

[117]Barrows, “The World’s Parliament of Religions,” Vol. I, p. 579, the paper on Mohammedanism by Washburn.

[118]Jesup, “The Mohammedan Missionary Problem,” p. 31. Presbyterian Board of Publication, Phila.

[119]Sale’s “Koran,” preliminary discourses, p. 110.

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