In a purely Mohammedan land, however low may be the general
level of moral feeling, the still lower depths of fallen humanity are
unknown. The 'social evil' and intemperance, prevalent in Christian
lands, are the strongest weapons in the armory of Islam. We point, and
justly, to the higher morality and civilization of those who do observe
the precepts of the Gospel, to the stricter unity and virtue which
cement the family, and to the elevation of the sex; but in vain, while
the example of our great cities, and too often of our representatives
abroad, belies the argument. And yet the argument is sound. For, in
proportion as Christianity exercises her legitimate influence, vice and
intemperance will wane and vanish, and the higher morality pervade the
whole body; whereas in Islam the deteriorating influences of polygamy,
divorce, and concubinage have been stereotyped for all time."--_The
Koran: its Composition and Teaching, and the Testimony it bears to the
Holy Scriptures_, p. 60.
[69] [Sidenote: Alleged progress of Islam in Africa.]
Much loose assertion has been made regarding the progress of Islam in
Africa; but I have found no proof of it apart from armed, political, or
trading influence, dogged too often by the slave-trade; to a great
extent a social rather than a religious movement, and raising the fetich
tribes (haply without intemperance) into a somewhat higher stage of
semi-barbarism.
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