THE PREACHING OF ISLAM
A History of the Propagation of the
Muslim Faith
T.W. ARNOLD MA. C.I.F
PROFESSOR OF ARABIC, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
SECOND EDITION
REVISED AND ENLARGED
LONDON
CONSTABLE & COMPANY Ltd.
1913
TO
SIR THEODORE MORISON, K.C.I.E.
TO WHOM THE FIRST EDITION OWES ITS EXISTENCE
THIS SECOND EDITION IS DEDICATED
IN TOKEN OF LONG FRIENDSHIP
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
It is with considerable diffidence that I publish these pages; the subject with which they deal is so vast, and I have had to prosecute it under circumstances so disadvantageous, that I can hope but for small measure of success. When I may be better equipped for the task, and after further study has enabled me to fill up the gaps[1] left in the present work, I hope to make it a more worthy contribution to this neglected department of Muhammadan history; and to this end I shall be deeply grateful for the criticisms and corrections of any scholars who may deign to notice the book. To such I would say in the words of St. Augustine : " Qui hæc legens dicit, intelligo quidem quid dictum sit, sed non vere dictum est; asserat ut placet sen-tentiam suam, et redarguat meam, si potest. Quod si cum caritate et veritate fecerit, mihique etiam (si in hac vita maneo) cognoscendum facere curaverit, uberrimum fructum laboris huius mei cepero."[2]
As I can neither claim to be an authority nor a specialist on any of the periods of history dealt with in this book, and as many of the events referred to therein have become matter for controversy, I have given full references to the sources consulted; and here I have thought it better to err on the side of excess rather than that of defect. I have myself suffered so much inconvenience and wasted so much time in hunting up references to books indicated in some obscure or unintelligible manner, that I would desire to spare others a similar annoyance; and while to the general reader I may appear guilty of pedantry, I may perchance save trouble to some scholar who wishes to test the accuracy of a statement or pursue any part of the subject further.
The scheme adopted in this book for the transliteration of Arabic words is that laid down by the Transliteration Committee of the Tenth International Congress of Orientalists, held at Geneva in 1894, with the exception that the last letter of the article is assimilated to the so-called solar letters. In the case of geographical names this scheme has not been so rigidly applied—in many instances because I could not discover the original Arabic form of the word, in others (e.g. Mecca, Medina), because usage has almost created for them a prescriptive title.
Though this work is confessedly, as explained in the Introduction, a record of missionary efforts and not a history of persecutions,[3] I have endeavoured to be strictly impartial and to conform to the ideal laid down by the Christian historian[4] who chronicled the successes of the Ottomans and the fall of Constantinople : οϋτε πρός χάριν οϋτε πρός φθόνον, ảλλ’ ούδέ πρός μĩσος ή καί πρός εϋνοιαν συγγράφειν χρεών έστι τόν σνγγράφοντα, άλλ’ ίστορίας μόνον χάριν καί τοΰ μή λήθης βυθώ παραδοθήναι, ήν ό χρόνος οίδε γεννάν, τήν ίστορίαν.
I desire to thank Her Excellency the Princess Barberini; His Excellency the Prince Chigi; the Most Rev. Dr. Paul Goethals, Archbishop of Calcutta; the Right Rev. Fr. Francis Pesci, Bishop of Allahabad; the Rev. S. S. Allnutt, of the Cambridge Mission, Dehli; the Trustees of Dr. Williams's Library, Gordon Square, London, for the liberal use they have allowed me of their respective libraries.
I am under an especial debt of gratitude to James Kennedy, Esq., late of the Bengal Civil Service, who has never ceased to take a kindly interest in my book, though it has almost exemplified the Horatian precept, Nonum prematur in annum; to his profound scholarship and wide reading I have been indebted for much information that would otherwise have remained unknown to me, nor do I owe less to the stimulus of his enthusiastic love of learning and his helpful sympathy. I am also under a debt of gratitude to the kindness of Conte Ugo Balzani, but for whose assistance certain parts of my work would have been impossible to me. To the late Professor Robertson Smith I am indebted for valuable suggestions as to the lines of study on which the history of the North African Church and the condition of the Christians under Muslim rule, should be worked out; the profound regret which all Semitic scholars feel at his loss is to me intensified by the thought that this is the only acknowledgment I am able to make of his generous help and encouragement.
I desire also to acknowledge my obligations to Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khān Bahādur, K.C.S.I., LL.D.; to my learned friend and colleague, Shamsu-1 ‘Ulamā’ Mawlawī Muhammad Shiblī Nu‘mānī, who has assisted me most generously out of the abundance of his knowledge of early Muhammadan history; and to my former pupil, Mawlawī Bahādur ‘Alī, M.A.
Lastly, and above all, must I thank my dear wife, but for whom this work would never have emerged out of a chaos of incoherent materials, and whose sympathy and approval are the best reward of my labours.
Aligarh, 1896.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
The first edition of this book having been out of print for several years and frequent inquiries having been made for copies, this new edition has been prepared and an effort has been made to revise the work in the light of the fresh materials that have accumulated during the last sixteen years; but I can make no claim to have made myself acquainted with the whole of the vast literature on the subject, in upwards of ten different languages, which has been published during this interval. The growing interest in Islam and the various branches of study connected with it, may be estimated from the fact that since 1906 five periodicals have made their appearance devoted to investigations cognate to the subject-matter of the present work, viz. Revue du Monde Musulman, publiée par La Mission Scientifique du Maroc (Paris, 1906- ); Der Islam, Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur des islamischen Orients (Strassburg, 1910- ); The Moslem World, a quarterly review of current events, literature, and thought among Mohammedans, and the progress of Christian Missions in Moslem lands (London, 1911- ); Mir Islama (St. Petersburg, 1912- ); and Die Welt des Islams, Zeitschrift der deutschen Gesellschaft für Islamkunde (Berlin, 1913— ). The Christian missionary societies are also now devoting increased attention to the subject of Muslim missionary activity and accordingly it takes up a proportionately larger place in their publications than before.
This second edition would have been completed several years ago but for the illiberal policy which closes the Reading Room of the British Museum at 7 o'clock and has thus made it practically inaccessible to me except on Saturdays.[5] I therefore desire to express my grateful thanks to those friends who have facilitated my labours by the loan of books from the Libraries of the University of Leiden and the University of Utrecht (through the kind offices of Professor Wensinck), and the École des Langues Orientales Vivantes, Paris;—to Mr. J. A. Oldham, editor of The International Review of Missions, I am indebted for the loan of volumes of the Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, a set of which I have been unable to find in London; my thanks are specially due to Dr. F. W. Thomas, who has allowed me to study for lengthy periods (along with other books from the India Office Library) the monumental Annali dell' Islam by Leone Caetani, Principe di Teano,—a work of inestimable value for the early history of Islam, but unfortunately placed out of the reach of the average scholar by reason of its great cost.
I am also much indebted for several valuable indications to those scholars who reviewed the book when it first appeared,—above all, to Professor Goldziher, whose sympathetic interest in this work has encouraged me to continue it.
London, 1913.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. | page |
A missionary religion defined. Islam a missionary religion; its extent. The Qur'ān enjoins preaching and persuasion, and forbids violence and force in the conversion of unbelievers. The present work a history of missions, not of persecutions. | I |
CHAPTER II. | |
STUDY OF THE LIFE OF MUḤAMMAD CONSIDERED AS A PREACHER OF ISLAM. | |
Muḥammad the type of the Muslim missionary. Account of his early efforts at propagating Islam, and of the conversions made in Mecca before the Hijrah. Persecution of the converts, and migration to Medina. Condition of the Muslims in Medina: beginning of the national life of Islam. Islam offered (a) to the Arabs, (b) to the whole world. Islam declared in the Qur’ȃn to be a universal religion,—as being the primitive faith delivered to Abraham. Muḥammad as the founder of a political organisation. The spread of Islam and the efforts made to convert the Arabs after the Hijrah. The ideals of Islam and those of Pre-Islamic Arabia contrasted………………………………………………………………….. | II |
CHAPTER III. | |
THE SPREAD Of ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS OF WESTERN ASIA. | |
The Arab conquests and expansion of the Arab race after the death of Muhammad. Conversion of Christian Bedouins. Causes of the early successes of the Muslims. Toleration extended to those who remained Christian.—The settled population of the towns: failure of Heraclius's attempt to reconcile the contending Christian sects. The Arab conquest of Syria and Palestine : their toleration: the Ordinance of ‘Umar : jizyah paid in return for protection and in lieu of military service. Condition of the Christians under Muslim rule: they occupy high posts, build new churches : revival in the Nestorian Church. Causes of their conversion to Islam : revolt against Byzantine ecclesiasticism: influence of rationalistic thought: imposing character of Muslim civilisation. Persecutions suffered by the Christians. Proselytising efforts. Details of conversion to Islam.—Account of conversions from among the Crusaders.—The Armenian and Georgian Churches………………………………………. | 45 |
CHAPTER IV. | |
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS OF AFRICA. | |
Egypt: conquered by the Arabs, who are welcomed by the Copts as their deliverers from Byzantine rule. Condition of the Copts under the Muslims. Corruption and negligence of the clergy lead to conversions to Islam.—Nubia: relations with Muhammadan powers: gradual decay of the Christian faith. —Abyssinia: the Arabs on the sea-board: missionary efforts in the fourteenth century: invasion of Ahmad Gran: conversions to Islam: progress of Islam in recent years.— Northern Africa: extent of Christianity in North Africa in the seventh century: the Christians are said to have been forcibly converted: reasons for thinking that this statement is not true: toleration enjoyed by the Christians: gradual disappearance of the Christian Church……………………………………………………………………………. | 102 |
CHAPTER V. | |
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIANS OF SPAIN. | |
Christianity in Spain before the Muslim conquest: miserable condition of the Jews and the slaves. Early converts to Islam. Corruption of the clergy. Toleration of the Arabs, and influence of their civilisation on the Christians, who study Arabic and adopt Arab dress and manners. Causes of conversion to Islam. The voluntary martyrs of Cordova. Extent of the conversions | 131 |
CHAPTER VI. | |
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS IN EUROPE UNDER THE TURKS. | |
Relations of the Turks to their Christian subjects during the first two centuries of their rule: toleration extended to the Greek Church by Muḥammad II: the benefits of Ottoman rule: its disadvantages, the tribute-children, the capitation-tax, tyranny of individuals. Forced conversion rare. Proselytising efforts made by the Turks. Circumstances that favoured the spread of Islam: degraded condition of the Greek Church: failure of the attempt to Protestantise the Greek Church: oppression of the Greek clergy: moral superiority of the Ottomans: imposing character of their conquests. Conversion of Christian slaves.— Islam in Albania, conquest of the country, independent character of its people, gradual decay of the Christian faith, and its causes;—in Servia, alliance of the Servians with the Turks, conversions mainly from among the nobles except in Old Servia;—in Montenegro;—in Bosnia, the Bogomiles, points of similarity between the Bogomilian heresy and the Muslim creed, conversion to Islam;—in Crete, conversion in the ninth century, oppression of the Venetian rule, conquered by the Turks, conversions to Islam………………………………… | 145 |
CHAPTER VII. | |
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN PERSIA AND CENTRAL ASIA. | |
Religious condition of Persia at the time of the Arab conquest. Islam welcomed by many sections of the population. Points of similarity between the older faiths and Islam. Toleration. Conversions to Islam. The Ismā‘īlians and their missionary system. Islam in Central Asia and Afghanistan……………………………………………………………………………………… | 206 |
CHAPTER VIII | |
THE SPREAD OP ISLAM AMONG THE MONGOLS AND TATARS. | |
Account of the Mongol conquests. Buddhism, Christianity and Islam in rivalry for the allegiance of the Mongols. Their original religion, Shamanism, described. Spread of Buddhism, of Christianity, and of Islam respectively among the Mongols. Difficulties that stood in the way of Islam. Cruel treatment of the Muslims by some Mongol rulers. Early converts to Islam. Baraka Khān, the first Mongol prince converted. Conversion of the Īĺkhans, Conversion of the Chaghatāy Mongols. History of Islam under the Golden Horde: Uzbek Khān : failure of attempts to convert the Russians. Spread of Islam in modern times in the Russian Empire. The conversion of the Tatars of Siberia…………………………. | 218 |
CHAPTER IX. | |
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN INDIA. | |
Distribution of the Muhammadan population. Part taken by the Muhammadan rulers in the propagation of Islam : conversion of Rajputs and others.—The work of the Muslim missionaries in India; traditions of early missionary efforts in South India, forced conversions under Haydar ‘Ali and Tīpū Sultān, the Mappilas:—in the Maldive Islands:—in the Deccan, early Arab settlements, labours of individual missionaries:—in Sind, the rule of the Arabs, their toleration, account of individual missionaries, conversion of the Khojahs and Bohras:—in Bengal, the Muhammadan rule in this province, extensive conversions of the lower castes, religious revival in recent times. —Particular account of the labours of Muslim missionaries in other parts of India. Propagationist movements of modern times. Circumstances facilitating the progress of Islam: the oppressiveness of the Hindu caste system, worship of Muslim saints, etc.—Spread of Islam in Kashmīr and Tibet…………………………………………………… | 254 |
CHAPTER X. | |
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN CHINA. | |
Early notices of Islam in China. Intercourse of the Chinese with the Arabs. Legendary account of the first introduction of Islam into China. Muslims under the T'ang dynasty: influence of the Mongol conquest; Islam under the Ming dynasty. Relations of the Chinese Muslims to the Chinese Government. Their efforts to spread their religion…………………… | 294 |
CHAPTER XI. | |
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN AFRICA. | |
The Arabs in Northern Africa: conversion of the Berbers: the mission of ‘Abd Allāh b. Yāsīn. Introduction of Islam into the Sudan: rise of Muhammadan kingdoms: account of missionary movements, Danfodio, ‘Uthmān al-Amīr Ghanī, the Qādiriyyah, the Tijāniyyah, and the Sanūsiyyah. Spread of Islam on the West Coast: Ashanti: Dahomey. Spread of Islam on the East Coast: early Muslim settlements: recent expansion in German East Africa : the Galla : the Somali. Islam in Cape Coast Colony. Account of the Muslim missionaries in Africa and their methods of winning converts……………………………………………………………………. | 312 |
CHAPTER XII. | |
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. | |
Early intercourse between the Malay Archipelago and Arabia and India. Methods of missionary work. History of Islam in Sumatra ; in the Malay Peninsula ; in Java ; in the Moluccas ; in Borneo; in Celebes ; in the Philippine and the Sulu Islands ; among the Papuans. The Muslim missionaries : traders: hājīs……………………………………………….. | 363 |
CHAPTER XIII. | |
CONCLUSION. | |
Absence of missionary organisation in Islam: zeal on the part of individuals. Who are the Muslim missionaries? Causes that have contributed to their success: the simplicity of the Muslim creed: the rationalism and ritualism of Islam. Islam not spread by the sword. The toleration of Muhammadan governments. Circumstances contributing to the progress of Islam in ancient and in modern times………………………………………………………………….. | 408 |
APPENDIX I. | |
Letter of al-Hāshimī inviting al-Kindī to embrace Islam…………………………………. | 428 |
APPENDIX II. | |
Controversial literature between Muslims and the followers of other faiths…………………… | 436 |
APPENDIX III. | |
Muslim missionary societies…………………………………………………………. | 438 |
TITLES OF WORKS CITED BY ABBREVIATED REFERENCES…………………………………… | 440 |
INDEX……………………………………………………………………………………………………... | 457 |
THE PREACHING OF ISLAM
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION
Ever since Professor Max Müller delivered his lecture in Westminster Abbey, on the day of intercession for missions, in December, 1873, it has been a literary commonplace, that the six great religions of the world may be divided into missionary and non-missionary; under the latter head fall Judaism, Brahmanism and Zoroastrianism, and under the former Buddhism, Christianity and Islam; and he well defined what the term,—a missionary religion,—should be taken to mean, viz. one " in which the spreading of the truth and the conversion of unbelievers are raised to the rank of a sacred duty by the founder or his immediate successors. ... It is the spirit of truth in the hearts of believers which cannot rest, unless it manifests itself in thought, word and deed, which is not satisfied till it has carried its message to every human soul, till what it believes to be the truth is accepted as the truth by all members of the human family.”[6]
It is such a zeal for the truth of their religion that has inspired the Muhammadans to carry with them the message of Islam to the people of every land into which they penetrate, and that justly claims for their religion a place among those we term missionary. It is the history of the birth of this missionary zeal, its inspiring forces and the modes of its activity that forms the subject of the following pages. The 200 millions of Muhammadans scattered over the world at the present day are evidences of its workings through the length of thirteen centuries.
The doctrines of this faith were first proclaimed to the people of Arabia in the seventh century, by a prophet under whose banner their scattered tribes became a nation; and filled with the pulsations of this new national life, and with a fervour and enthusiasm that imparted an almost invincible strength to their armies, they poured forth over three continents to conquer and subdue. Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa and Persia were the first to fall before them, and pressing westward to Spain and eastward beyond the Indus, the followers of the Prophet found themselves, one hundred years after his death, masters of an empire greater than that of Rome at the zenith of its power.
Although in after years this great empire was split up and the political power of Islam diminished, still its spiritual conquests went on uninterruptedly. When the Mongol hordes sacked Baghdād (a.d. 1258) and drowned in blood the faded glory of the ‘Abbāsid dynasty,—when the Muslims were expelled from Cordova by Ferdinand of Leon and Castile (a.d. 1236), and Granada, the last stronghold of Islam in Spain, paid tribute to the Christian king,—Islam had just gained a footing in the island of Sumatra and was just about to commence its triumphant progress through the islands of the Malay Archipelago. In the hours of its political degradation, Islam has achieved some of its most brilliant spiritual conquests : on two great historical occasions, infidel barbarians have set their feet on the necks of the followers of the Prophet,—the Saljūq Turks in the eleventh and the Mongols in the thirteenth century,—and in each case the conquerors have accepted the religion of the conquered. Unaided also by the temporal power, Muslim missionaries have carried their faith into Central Africa, China and the East India Islands.
At the present day the faith of Islam extends from Morocco to Zanzibar, from Sierra Leone to Siberia and China, from Bosnia to New Guinea. Outside the limits of strictly Muhammadan countries and of lands, such as China and Russia, that contain a large Muhammadan population, there are some few small communities of the followers of the Prophet, which bear witness to the faith of Islam in the midst of unbelievers. Such are the Polish-speaking Muslims of Tatar origin in Lithuania, that inhabit the districts of Kovno, Vilno and Grodno;[7] the Dutch-speaking Muslims of Cape Colony; and the Indian coolies that have carried the faith of Islam with them to the West India Islands and to British and Dutch Guiana. In recent years, too, Islam has found adherents in England, in North America, Australia and Japan.
The spread of this faith over so vast a portion of the globe is due to various causes, social, political and religious : but among these, one of the most powerful factors at work in the production of this stupendous result, has been the unremitted labours of Muslim missionaries, who, with the Prophet himself as their great ensample, have spent themselves for the conversion of unbelievers.
The duty of missionary work is no after-thought in the history of Islam, but was enjoined on believers from the beginning, as may be judged from the following passages in the Qur'ãn,—which are here quoted in chronological order according to the date of their being delivered.
" Summon thou to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and with kindly warning : dispute with them in the kindest manner, (xvi. 126.)
" They who have inherited the Book after them (i.e. the Jews and Christians), are in perplexity of doubt concerning it.
" For this cause summon thou (them to the faith), and walk uprightly therein as thou hast been bidden, and follow not their desires : and say : In whatsoever Books God hath sent down do I believe : I am commanded to decide justly between you : God is your Lord and our Lord : we have our works and you have your works : between us and you let there be no strife : God will make us all one : and to Him shall we return." (xlii. 13-14.)
Similar injunctions are found also in the Medinite Sūrahs, delivered at a time when Muhammad was at the head of a large army and at the height of his power.
" Say to those who have been given the Book and to the ignorant, Do you accept Islam ? Then, if they accept Islam, are they guided aright: but if they turn away, then thy duty is only preaching; and God's eye is on His servants. (iii. 19.)
" Thus God clearly showeth you His signs that perchance ye may be guided;
" And that there may be from among you a people who invite to the Good, and enjoin the Just, and forbid the Wrong; and these are they with whom it shall be well. (iii. 99-100.)
" To every people have We appointed observances which they observe. Therefore let them not dispute the matter with thee, but summon them to thy Lord : Verily thou art guided aright :
“ But if they debate with thee, then say : God best knoweth what ye do!” (xxii. 66-67.)
The following passages are taken from what is generally supposed to be the last Sūrah that was delivered.
" If any one of those who join gods with God ask an asylum of thee, grant him an asylum in order that he may hear the word of God; then let him reach his place of safety." (ix. 6.)
With regard to the unbelievers who had broken their plighted word, who " sell the signs of God for a mean price and turn others aside from His way," and " respect not with a believer either ties of blood or good faith," ... it is said :—
" Yet if they turn to God and observe prayer and give alms, then are they your brothers in the faith : and We make clear the signs for men of knowledge." (ix. II)
Thus from its very inception Islam has been a missionary religion, both in theory and in practice, for the life of Muḥammad exemplifies the same teaching, and the Prophet himself stands at the head of a long series of Muslim missionaries who have won an entrance for their faith into the hearts of unbelievers. Moreover it is not in the cruelties of the persecutor or the fury of the fanatic that we should look for the evidences of the missionary spirit of Islam, any more than in the exploits of that mythical personage, the Muslim warrior with sword in one hand and Qur'an in the other,[8] —but in the quiet, unobtrusive labours of the preacher and the trader who have carried their faith into every quarter of the globe. Such peaceful methods of preaching and persuasion were not adopted, as some would have us believe, only when political circumstances made force and violence impossible or impolitic, but were most strictly enjoined in numerous passages of the Qur'ān, as follows :—
"And endure what they say with patience, and depart from them with a decorous departure.
"And let Me alone with the gainsayers, rich in the pleasures (of this life); and bear thou with them yet a little while. (lxxiii. io-ii.)
"(My) sole (work) is preaching from God and His message. (lxxii. 24.)
"Tell those who have believed to pardon those who hope not for the days of God in which He purposeth to recompense men according to their deserts. (xlv. 13.)
"They who had joined other gods with God say, ‘Had He pleased, neither we nor our forefathers had worshipped aught but Him; nor had we, apart from Him, declared anything unlawful.’ Thus acted they who were before them. Yet is the duty of the apostles other than plain-spoken preaching? (xvi. 37.)
" Then if they turn their backs, still thy office is only plain-spoken preaching, (xvi. 84.)
" Dispute ye not, unless in kindliest sort, with the people of the Book; save with such of them as have dealt wrongfully (with you) : and say ye, ‘We believe in what has been sent down to us and hath been sent down to you. Our God and your God is one, and to Him are we self-surrendered.’ (xxix. 45.)
" But if they turn aside from thee, yet We have not sent thee to be guardian over them. ‘Tis thine but to preach. (xlii. 47.)
" But if thy Lord had pleased, verily all who are in the world would have believed together. Wilt thou then compel men to become believers ? (x. 99.)
" And we have not sent thee otherwise than to mankind at large, to announce and to warn." (xxxiv. 27.)
Such precepts are not confined to the Meccan Sūrahs, but are found in abundance also in those delivered at Medina, as follows :—
" Let there be no compulsion in religion. (ii. 257.)
" Obey God and obey the apostle; but if ye turn away, yet is our apostle only charged with plain-spoken preaching. (lxiv. 12.)
" Obey God and obey the apostle : but if ye turn back, still the burden of his duty is on him only, and the burden of your duty rests on you. And if ye obey him, ye shall have guidance : but plain preaching is all that devolves upon the apostle. (xxiv. 53.)
"Say: O men! I am only your plain-spoken (open) warner. (xxii. 48.)
"Verily We have sent thee to be a witness and a herald of good and a warner,
"That ye may believe on God and on His apostle; and may assist Him and honour Him, and praise Him morning and evening. (xlviii. 8-9.)
"Thou wilt not cease to discover the treacherous ones among them, except a few of them. But forgive them and pass it over. Verily, God loveth those who act generously." (v. 16.)
It is the object of the following pages to show how this ideal was realised in history and how these principles of missionary activity were put into practice by the exponents of Islam. And at the outset the reader should clearly understand that this work is not intended to be a history of Muhammadan persecutions but of Muhammadan missions —it does not aim at chronicling the instances of forced conversions which may be found scattered up and down the pages of Muhammadan histories. European writers have taken such care to accentuate these, that there is no fear of their being forgotten, and they do not strictly come within the province of a history of missions. In a history of Christian missions we should naturally expect to hear more of the labours of St. Liudger and St. Willehad among the pagan Saxons than of the baptisms that Charlemagne forced them to undergo at the point of the sword.[9] The true missionaries of Denmark were St. Ansgar and his successors rather than King Cnut, who forcibly rooted out paganism from his dominions.[10] Abbot Gottfried and Bishop Christian, though less successful in converting the pagan Prussians, were more truly representative of Christian missionary work than the Brethren of the Sword and other Crusaders who brought their labours to completion by means of fire and sword. The knights of the “Ordo fratrum militiæ Christi” forced Christianity on the people of Livonia, but it is not to these militant propagandists but to the monks Meinhard and Theodoric that we should point as being the true missionaries of the Christian faith in this country. The violent means sometimes employed by the Jesuit missionaries[11] cannot derogate from the honour due to St. Francis Xavier and other preachers of the same order. Nor is Valentyn any the less the apostle of Amboyna because in 1699 an order was promulgated to the Rajas of this island that they should have ready a certain number of pagans to be baptised, when the pastor came on his rounds.[12]
In the history of the Christian church missionary activity is seen to be intermittent, and an age of apostolic fervour may be succeeded by a period of apathy and indifference, or persecution and forced conversion may take the place of the preaching of the Word; so likewise does the propaganda of Islam in various epochs of Muhammadan history ebb and flow. But since the zeal of proselytising is a distinct feature of either faith, its missionary history may fittingly be singled out as a separate branch of study, not as excluding other manifestations of the religious life but as concentrating attention on an aspect of it that has special characteristics of its own. Thus the annals of propaganda and persecution may be studied apart from one another, whether in the history of the Christian or the Muslim church, though in both they may be at times commingled. For just as the Christian faith has not always been propagated by the methods adopted in Viken (the southern part of Norway) by King Olaf Trygvesson, who either slew those who refused to accept Christianity, or cut off their hands or feet, or drove them into banishment, and in this manner spread the Christian faith throughout the whole of Viken,[13] —and just as the advice of St. Louis has not been made a principle of Christian missionary work,— " When a layman hears the Christian law ill spoken of, he should not defend that law save with his sword, which he should thrust into the infidel's belly, as far as it will go,"[14] —so there have been Muslim missionaries who have not been guided in their propagandist methods by the savage utterance of Marwān, the last of the ‘Umayyad caliphs : " Whosoever among the people of Egypt does not enter into my religion and pray as I pray and follow my tenets, I will slay and crucify him."[15] Nor are al-Mutawakkil, al-Hākim and Tīpū Sultān to be looked upon as typical missionaries of Islam to the exclusion of such preachers as Mawlānā Ibrāhīm, the apostle of Java, Khwājah Mu‘īn al-Dīn Chishtī in India and countless others who won converts to the Muslim faith by peaceful means alone.
But though a clear distinction can be drawn between conversion as the result of persecution and a peaceful propaganda by means of methods of persuasion, it is not so easy to ascertain the motives that have induced the convert to change his faith, or to discover whether the missionary has been wholly animated by a love of souls and by the high ideal set forth in the first paragraph of this chapter. Both in Christianity and Islam there have been at all times earnest souls to whom their religion has been the supreme reality of their lives, and this absorbing interest in matters of the spirit has found expression in that zeal for the communication of cherished truths and for the domination of doctrines and systems they have deemed perfect, which constitutes the vivifying force of missionary movements,— and there have likewise been those without the pale, who have responded to their appeal and have embraced the new faith with a like fervour. But, on the other hand, Islam—like Christianity—has reckoned among its adherents many persons to whom ecclesiastical institutions have been merely instruments of a political policy or forms of social organisation, to be accepted either as disagreeable necessities or as convenient solutions of problems that they do not care to think out for themselves; such persons may likewise be found among the converts of either faith. Thus both Christianity and Islam have added to the number of their followers by methods and under conditions—social, political and economic—which have no connection with such a thirst for souls as animates the true missionary. Moreover, the annals of missionary enterprise frequently record the admission of converts without any attempt to analyse the motives that have led them to change their faith, and especially for the history of Muslim missions there is a remarkable poverty of material in this respect, since Muslim literature is singularly poor in those records of conversions that occupy such a large place in the literature of the Christian church. Accordingly, in the following sketch of the missionary activity of Islam, it has not always been possible to discover whether political, social, economic or purely religious motives have determined conversion, though occasional reference can be made to the operation of one or the other influence.
[1] E.g. The spread of Islam in Sicily and the missionary labours of the numerous Muslim saints.
[2] De Trinitate, i. 5. (Migne, tom. Xlii, p.823.)
[4] Phrantzes, p. 5.
[5] The Student of the literatue of Science or of the fine Arts finds the libaries at South Kensington open till 10 o'clock on three evenings every week, but the one library in this country that aims at any completeness is available only to such students as are at leisure during the day-time.
[6] A note on Mr. Lyall's article: "Missionary Religions." Fortnightly Review, July, 1874.
[7] Reclus, vol. v. p, 433; Gasztowtt, p. 320 sqq.
[8] This misinterpretation of the Muslim wars of conquest has arisen from the assumption that wars waged for the extension of Muslim domination over the lands of the unbelievers implied that the aim in view was their conversion. Goldziher has well pointed out this distinction in his Vorlesungen ũber den Islam : '' Was Muḥammed zünachst in seinem arabischen Umkreise getan, das hinterlässt er als Testament für die Zukunft seiner Gemeinde: Bekämpfung der Ungläubigen, die Ausbreitung nicht so sehr des Glaubens als seiner Machtsphäre, die die Machtsphäre Allahs ist. Es ist dabei den Kämpfern des Islams zunächst nicht so sehr um Bekehrung als um Unterwerfung der Ungläubigen zu tun." (p. 25.)
[9] See Enhardi Fuldensis Annales, A.D. 777. "Saxones post multas cædes et varia bella afflicti, tandem christiani effecti, Francorum dicioni subduntur." G. H. Pertz: Monumenta Germaniæ Historica, vol. i. p. 349. (See also pp. 156, 159.)
[10]" Turn zelo propagandæ fidei succensus, barbara regna iusto certamine aggressus, devictas subditasque nationes christianæ legi subiugavit." (Breviarium Romanum. Iun. 19.)
[11] Mathurin Veyssière de la Croze: Histoire du Christianisme des Indes, pp- 529-531. (The Hague, 1724.)
[12] Revue de 1'Histoire des Religions, vol. xi. p. 89.
[13] Konrad Maurer: Die Bekehrung des norwegischen Stammes zum Christenthume, vol. i. p. 284. (München, 1855.)
[14] Jean, Sire dc Joinville: Histoire de Saint Louis, ed, N. de Wailly p. 30. (§ 53).
[15] Severus, p. 191 (ll. 21-22).
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