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HE PREACHES MOHAMMED, AND WOULD HAVE US HEARKREN TO THE WORDS OF THE KORAN. e. Muhammed A. R Webs Opens his Campaign f Conversion—No Telis of the Superi ority of alamism and of the Worthy Life of the true Follower of the Prophet New York Law. See, at 49 West 119th street, Muaham med Alexander Russell Webb raised last night the green standard of Islam, drew the sword of the Prophet of Mec on, and shouted the battle cry of Moa lems everywhere. “God is great, and Mohammed is his prophet.” He did all this in the most dressy, business like way in the world. He was dress ed in an evening suit, and his hands hung from his trousers pockets by the thambse. His carefully combed whis kers were spread out in curling lux uriousness upon his shirt front, and his dark hair was reached straight back from his forehead. His voice wee- business-lke, and his speech, abounded with the accents which per sons from wast of the Alleghanys put upon their words, and also with such current slang as ‘“‘isn’t in it, ’ “you can bet your last dollar.” “Tam pot exactly a missionary, said he. “I simply came here to ees tablish a Mohammedan paper, to pub lish books that will educate Ameri cans into a knowledge of Islam as it is, and to organize circles for the study of the Koran and of Islam in general.” Heaoon got upon the subject of po lygamy. ‘For,’ said he, “that in the idea uppermost in the minds of Amer icans when Mohammedaniam is men tioned. Our idea of polygamy is got from the Mormons. We think that it means for a man to marry as man wives as he pleases, and natural ly fills us with disgust. “You must remember, in the first place, that Mohammed found the Arabs marrying as many wives as they chose. He cut down the number so they could marry one, two, three, or four wives, according to circum stances. I am not foolish enough to suppose that polygamy could be so grafted upon our system of civiliza tion. But you must know that pros titution does not exist in purely Mo hammeedan countries. In India, where the English are, the Christian English Government set aside on its oficial Indian Budget each year a certain sum for providing prostitutes for the army. I did not believe this when I first heard it, but I looked into it and found that it was true. ‘The harem is not an institution created by Mohammed, nor in the cus toen of keeping the women in seclusion parter le sytem. ‘ He taught that ‘women should dress modestly, and no precept has been carried to the extreme through the adopting of an pcandalised by what I told then about the way far women went about the stevets. The Mohdah wo ‘man are well content, and regard ‘teek-wenrers “sisters With fully as manel ply and. bétror.na, their weetern sisters have ter eet “And'tarih srmere, I know that their righia “are wet wemne ( A rie BAKO) ie sothoe ‘this ‘Se nat ale penne Ogi fett aris ak ot ong Nenana !! The drinkers of wine and whiskey among them are the Europeanized Mohammedans who wear the Euro pean dreas. The great objection I have to the Christian system is that it is loose. It teaches its followers to pray without ceasing. The result is that they pray intermittently or not at all. Now the Mohammedan must pray five times a day, at sunrise, at noon, between 4 and 6 o’clock, just at sunset, and at bedtime. He must pray at each of these times, and in this way he is at least five times dur ing the day reminded of his religion Each time he prays he must make his ablutions, and thus the virtue of cleanliness goes hand in hand with prayer .Islam means ‘resignation to God.’ There are no priests as such in Islam. The man who leads in the prayers may be a butcher or baker or tailor. There is no Class of priests, and there fore there is no inducement for a newitten, wir craw. foo Uasigtinu minister educates himself at great ex pense. His occupation becomes a means of livelihood, his only means of livelihood, in fact. A Christian min ister in St. Louis said to me once, “I do not believe a great many things. But what am I to do? I am 56 years old. I cannot cast myself adrift. I must go on preaching for if I quit, T starve., “The great central idea of Islam is brotherhood. All men stand upon a level. The rich merchant, the noble man, the beggar are brothers. Mo hammed taught and practiced this most earnestly. And I have never known of a Moslemn beng Inhama’n or cruel tos brother Moslem .They say that Islam is the religion of the sword This is a strange re proach for Christianity to bring to Is lam. What religion has as bloody a record as Christianity? When Omar and his army entered Jerusalem in the religious war not a drop of blood was shed. When the Crusaders en tered it 70,000 men, women and chil dren were put to the sword. Even in their bloodiest wars the Mohamme dans spared the old men and the wo men and children.” Muhammed Webb then reviewed the events of the Prophet's life, and his religious wars to show that he had been maligned. ‘Think,’ said he, “in the eighth century Moalemn Spain was the home of the arts and sciences, the highest type of civilization in the world, while Christian Europe was plunged in ignorance and in blood and was overrun with monks who thought it a sin to be clean. “I do not pretend to say that Mo hammedans in general carry out the precepts of Mohammed as he wished. Neither do the Christians carry out the precepts of Jesus. In the Phil pine Islands the Christians are the most ignorant and superstitions per- Plelevar saw. ‘Yet they pass on Christians. You must not judge Is lam by the Mohammedans you see about the streets of Bagdad or Bom bay or Cairo. Judge it by the educat ed and intelligent and enlightened folowers it has. Judge it by the teachings of the Koran. Read the Bi ble, then read the Koran. And if any fair-minded man does not say that the Koran is the better book, I'll eat it .The old testament is in every Christian household. I have two lit tle girls. With God's help I shall see that they never read it. For It is the most obscene book I know of. It con tains things that are utterly filthy. There is not a line in the Koran that anyone could object to, that could not be read anywhere or by anybody. “It has been said that if you atrip Christianity of to three errors, the im= stonement, and the trinity, you, have eise of all systeres, of is of Buddhises, of Ghetianity, is the same. All the great, inspired teachers taught the true of Christianity. Jesus taught that the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven were for the few, and that his teachings to the rest were as parables. It is esoteric Islam to which I Invite your attention.” Dr M.8. Gabriel, a Christianized Turk, editor of the New York Turk ish journal Haik, urged upon Muham med Webb's attention that Islam con tained but one truth, that God is one, while Jesus taught many truths. “Islam,” said he, ‘is a good enough religion for the semi-barbarous Arabs, but a poor substitute for Christian ity.” Muhammed Webb In stated that es oteric Islam had none of the objec tionable features of esoteric Christian ity. “Islam in its bhighest form,” said he, ‘is the broadest, freeat, most satisfying formulation of ethical truth known in the world ’ The Rev. A. B. Eliot, a retired Pres byterian clergyman, said that he wroug ob infam was borrowed from Ju daism and from Christianity, and con tained nothing particularly worthy of attention. ‘It is true,’ said Mu hammad Webb, “that its ethical teachings are the same as those of Christianity. But Christianity is the same as Buddhism. Jesus was no such teacher as Mohammed There is a gap of twelve years in the life of Jesus. What he did during those twelve years the Christian church does not know *’ ‘The Catholic Church has tradi tions,” said Dr Eliot. “The Catholic Church knows noth ing about it. But I know I have heard the story againstt gain. I know where he was during those twelve years.” “He was traveling in India,” said Col. Sickles. ‘That is readily proved. Even the places he visited are pretty well known. He went from Budd hist monastery to Buddhist monas tery. Why,I can show you in the old Sanskrit documents the Sermon on the Moant word for word, except for such verbal alterations as are nec essary in transfering from language to language. Jesus was a disciple of Buddha. ‘Are you a Mohammedan, Col. Bick les?’ “Oh no. Imm on the fence. I see good in all religions.” “We'll all join you, Mr. Webb,” said Dr. Eliot, ap you'll turn your crusade in the direction of more mod est evening dress for women. Bo the conversation grew less form al. Many interesting things were said, the Turk and two young Armen ians bringing forward a vast amount of Oriental knowledge to supplement Muohammad Webb's nine years of study and observation. Death of J. P Vand:sort From the Locearne Standard, One by one, the veteranns are re sponding to the roll call and soon they will form an unbroken rank awaiting the trumpet sound of that ‘‘great day.”? Last Thursday morning J P Vandivort died, after an iness of about two weeks. Hoe was taken sick with a severe chill, but was not con sidered dangerous till a few days be fore he died. He was one of the earli est settlers of this county, and was also among the oldest residents When the civil war broke out he join ed the Union army from this county and being captured in the south part of this state was shot and left for dead He recovered, but remained a cripple for life. In his younger days, he took an active part in local politics, and in the early history of the repub lcan party, he and A D Kingrey have the distinction of being the only men in Medicine township who voted that ticket.’ ‘While in later years he took no active part in public affairs, he never lost interest in them and was a careful student of current events His life in a part of the history of Putnam county and he leaves many warm friends and relatives who will long remember his life of industry, honesty, and integrity Mound semen. By Huaoseworth, Boring is coming “gentle Annie.” Health in general is pretty good at present our school closed on the 10th of that month Abner Jones was teach er and put withatanding it was his first school, he gave universal satis faction A three year old child of James Caln’a died ,the 28th, of membraneous croup and was buried at the Thump son cemetery. Evertls election draweth nigh and candidates for township officers are‘ getting ripe . T Yaden says he has got no more ground to rent, but to the con trary thinks of POU some as he has another boy at his house to help him. Grandma Henry, who has been spending the greater part of the win shire Whi,bam teaghe, Be. PV. Beckwith, of Lincoln township, was 79 years old the 25, of December She has 11 children ving, 4 grand child ren and 47 great grand children. T J Choat base held 84 acres of land to L. P Davis, consideration $37 .6. PD is going into the fro business, we perfume, as the lau heurchased joined the notori ous Hanel frog pond on the north The design on the cover of Amer ican Young People, the new silustrat ed monthly magazine published in Chicago, is attracting widespread at tention, especially from artists and art critics throughout the country, as it is without question one of the most besotimuled ~ expressive ever put upon the cover of a periodical It in the work of an eminent artist and symbolizes the scope of the maga sine. In order to encourage and stimulate patriotic idea in minds of the youth of America, the publishers of Amer ica) Young People offer prizes ap proximating Ten Thousand Dollars in value for the best essays giving the most comprehensive exposition of the symbolism embodied in the design. Competition is open to all persona under twenty years of age in any educational institution, publita, private or parochial, in the United States. Not only will the successful competitors receive a prize, but also the school or institution of which he or she is a member, Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb, clad in a dress suit, and wear ing a luxuriant brown beard, his face fat and florid and his eyes brown, bright and sparkling, according to the new apaper accounts, lectured a couple of days ago on Islamism in a New York parlor. Hundreds of St. Louis people will hardly recognize Alea Wabb in this disguise, but he was once very tell known here and he is heading this way, a full flooded Mohammedan, to plant the standard of Islam in this city. Per haps we will be ready even for that, if the April elections go the way they are now pointing.—St. Louis Star Saylogs.*
Newspaper Details
Unionville Republican
Unionville, Missouri, US
Wed, Mar 08, 1893
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Muhammed A.
USA 19 Feb 2026
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