Scarcely more than five decades had passed by since the death of Mohammed when the conquering hosts of Islam reached the borders of India. 1t was in the year 711 A.D. that Mohammed Kasim overran Sindh in the name of Walid | of Damascus.
Forty years later the Rajput’s succeeded in overthrowing the Moslem power in Sindh and maintained control for 150 years. But the religion was not disturbed and continued to make material advances even beyond the regions under Moslem sway. Elliot in his History of India tells us of certain Sindhenan princes, who became Mohammedans at this time, assuming Arab names. But all of the earlier invasions of India were characterized as predatory incursions, in which the invaders were more anxious to secure plunder than to convert the infidels. Even as late as the time of the great champion of Islam, Mahmud of Ghani (1019 A.D.) the “proselyting sword” seems “to have served no other purpose than that of sending infidels to hell.”
GHAZNI’S 17 INVASIONS
Seventeen times did this zealot overrun North India, extending his empire from Persia to the Ganges. During all these centuries, multitudes of the people, some to save their lives and property, some to share the honors and booty of the new regime, others to escape the tyranny and contempt of their Hindu rulers, embraced the religion of their conquerors. By intermarriage with these, the foreign Moslems became domiciled in India and the religion became rooted in the soil. Towards the close of the 12th century (1176- 1206) Mohammed Ghori invaded India and set up an Afghan viceroyalty at Delhi under his favorite slave Kutb-ud-din. At the death of his master, Kutb-ud-din established himself as the Sultan of North India with Delhi as his capital.
LOW CASTES WELCOME ISLAM
It was at about this time (1206- 1288) that another of the great generals of Mohammed Ghori, Bakhtiyar Khan, having conquered Bengal, set himself up as an independent Sultan with his capital at Gaur,
The multitudes of low caste aborigines inhabiting this province seem to have welcomed their new rulers, and readily to have accepted at new faith.
It was from Delhi and Agra that the various Moslem rulers extended their dominion. Dynasties were overthrown amid scenes of war and bloodshed. India was carved up into a number of independent sovereignties, but during all this turmoil, the religion of the Mohammedans was being established with greater or lesser success from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal, and from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin. It was during the period 1625-1707, when the power of the Moguls became established throughout India, that the religion of Islam made its most brilliant and extended conquests. Then it was that those grand monuments of art and literature were erected, of which Moslems may well be proud, and which still lend so much lustier to the Moslem rule in India.
CHRISTIAN DOMINATION
At the close of the reign of Aurangzeb, the political power of 4 Dalit Voice |: the Moslems rapidly began to wane and eventually gave place to the Christian dominion of Great Britian. Christian conquest brought to all classes’ religious liberty; and so, the Christians became deliverers to the Moslems who were being oppressed by their Hindu and Sikh conquerors. Under the peaceful rule of the Christians, Islam is enabled to reorganize its forces and to propagate its tenets among the people without let or hindrance.
The advance which Islam has made in India during its 12 centuries of conquest and missionary effort, may be seen by reference to the census reports for 1901. These show a total Mohammedan population aggregating 62,458,077, being almost one-forechoice entire papulation, excluding Burma. Of this immense total, 25,265,342 Moslems belong to Bengal, 10,825,698tothe Punjab, 6,731,034 balconette United Provinces, 1,957,777 to the Northwest Frontier Province, and 339,446 to the Central Provinces. The remaining 17,339,780 belong to the Deccan, Central, West and South India. When it is noted that Bombay and Madras together, sum up only 6,227,526 Mohammedans, itis clear that a considerable portion of the 11 million remaining should be reckoned as belonging to Behar, Rajputana and other States lying within the precincts of North India. May we say in round numbers that the Moslem population of North India aggregates 50,000,000.
MOSLEM SECTS
The Mohammedans of North India are for the most part Sunnis or Orthodox. The Shahs do not number more than 5,000,000 for all India. Most of them belong to North India, having their stronghold in Oudh, with headquarters in Lucknow. – There are still a few who boast of their faith in Mohammed Ibn Abd up Wahhab, but their influence has lost its power and the sect is likely to be reabsorbed into that of the Sunni. All the ordinary divisions of Islam, based upon the various schools of. philosophy and theology, have their place in India, but of these we need not make any special mention.
SIR SYED’S NEW ISLAM
In quite recent years, two movements among Moslems in North India have attracted a great deal of attention and have given rise to two * bodies of Moslems which are regarded as sects. One of these bodies was founded by the late Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan, K. C. S. l, of Aligarh, known as the New Islam. It is, however, rather a restoration of the rationalism of the Mutazillas of the olden time. Its followers are progressive and number among them many of the most learned and intelligent Moslems of North India. The interesting feature of the movements readiness to give reason placentae discussion of religious questions.
AHMADIYA MOVEMENT
The other sect to which we have referred is that founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmed of Qadian in the Punjab. This sect styles itself as Ahmadiyyah. The founder styles himself as the Mahdi-Messiah of the 20th century. He claims to be a prophet and the Messiah of the last times. This sect seems to be rather allied to that of the Babis in Persia. Like that of the “New Islam” this movement is regarded by all Moslems, whether Sunni or Shiah, as heretical. The movement has influenced a multitude of educated men, but perhaps b “this may be accounted for by its offering a refuge for men who can no longer continue with the orthodox schools.
Methods of Propagating Islam
As always elsewhere, so in India the main instrument in the extension of the faith has been “the Proselyting Sword.” For more than ten centuries the power of the sword and the legislation of Mohammedan governments were used without restraint to bring unbelievers under the yoke of Islam. This claim is confirmed by a study of the map of India, in the light of the census.
The great mass of Mohammedans is found among the inhabitants of North India, especially in the Western sections and in the regions adjacent to the centuries of Moslem overmentioned United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The apparent, exception is that of eastern and northern Bengal, where the sword had little to do with proselytism.
HINDU TYRANNY IN BENGAL
The exception, however, is only apparent, because the simple aboriginal and Hindu population, like the low caste people of the whole Indian peninsula, had nothing to gain by warring against their Moslem conquerors. Nor had they any strong religious principles to defend.
On the contrary the Moslems came as deliverers from Hindu tyranny and caste contempt, offering them social recognition, and constituting them the recognized cultivators of the lands of which they had been mere serfs under Hindu rule.
The purpose of “the proselyting sword” was the same whether wielded by a Mahmud of Ghazni or a Bakhtiyar Khan. It meant submission to the rule of Islam and a formal recognition of Allah as God and Mohammed as the prophet of God. A study of the early wars of Islam will convince anyone that they were carried on in accord with the command of Mohammed himself. Christians and Jews were required to recognize the supreme control of Islam and pay tribute as the price of peace and liberty to worship God in. their own way. All others were required to acknowledge Islam as the true religion and embrace it by repeating the Kalima. Along with this the new converts were immediately placed under the instruction of someone who as Mullah undertook to impart a knowledge of the essential doctrine and practice of Islam. Accordingly, the official establishment of the church was always a sequel to the conquest of the state. These Mulla’s were zealous propagandists, and used every form of influence to make converts of the people. Traders and travelers also zealously spread the faith. Officers of government, whether civil or military, were in a position to advance the interests of Islam. The emoluments of office, landed rights, political and social equality were freely offered as inducements to enter upon the Moslem way of life and immortality.
Thus, it was that in Bengal and Behar, as well as many other parts of India, the work of proselyting continued even after the sword had been sheathed, and also amid the misfortunes of war. This state of things continues in India at the present time, whereby many converts to Islam are made from among the low castes,
MOSLEM DERVISH
Another instrumentality forth propagation of Mohammedanism was the Moslem dervish, who consecrates himself to the one purpose of teaching and preaching Islam. The Moslem historians speak of the work and influence of these men from the days of the first incursion of Moslems into India. By their tact and intelligence, they have not only been the shepherds of their scattered coreligionists, or the theological teachers of those who were to become Mulla’s but by their austerities they drew many idolaters to them and persuaded them to accept Islam as their religion. The influence of such men accounts for the fact that in many places in India the Moslem faith has maintained itself amid persecution and much suffering when in the fortune of war, the Moslem power gave way to Hindu rule. This same influence to some extent accounts for the propagation of the faith in India to-day.
CHRISTIANIZATION OF MUSLIMS
A more powerful agency is the Anjuman-I-Islam or Moslem Association for the defense and propagation of Islam. This society establishes schools and colleges, publishes a considerable literature and supports a band of preachers – intermission, equipped to some extent after the pattern of Christian missions. Their great work is to prevent the Christianization of Moslems, and at the same time to secure the apostasy of Christian converts formulae. Thanisha preaching of Islam, of which Prof. T.W. Arnold has written so full and so flattering an account. The zeal of the Moslem propaganda is well described in the words of the Apostle Paul:
“They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; for being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not subjected themselves to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:2,3).
CONDITION OF MOSLEMS IN N. INDIA
When we consider the fact that for many centuries the Moslems held the supreme power in India, especially in the great political and literary centers of North India, we should naturally have expected them to have held a leading position under the new regime inaugurated by the British conquest. That such is not the case requires some explanation. The first influence operating against Moslem advancement was the unprogressive character of their religion. Everything is cast in a mound. The mound is believed to have been made upon a Divine pattern in consequence of which the idea of possible development or improvement is, in the nature of the case, impious.
Everything necessary to Moslem perfection is found in the Koran, the Traditions and the Deliverances of the Mujahidin. History proves that the progressive movements of the Caliphs of Beg dad and Cordova, or of the Mogul Emperors of Delhi, were made in spite of the teachings of Orthodox Islam. Accordingly, what was accomplished in the artistic and literary age, that is to say, in the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan, was in great measure undone by the fierce repressive measures of Aurangzeb. The empire dissolved with the close of his reign, and the disunited fragments were unable to contend against the onslaught of the Mahrattas in the south and the Sikhs in the north. A long period of internecine warfare and anarchy resulted in breaking up the social and intellectual fabric of the Mosiems. Education was limited to the schools of a very few centers and the teaching of the Mulla’s in the local Musjids. The range of instruction given was that of reading and writing the Arabic character, with a knowledge of Persian necessary for the duties of public office. In the higher schools at Delhi, Agra, and Lucknow, education was along the lines of the seven sciences – Language, Logic, Mathematics, Rhetoric, Jurisprudence, Theology and Exegesis.
MISSION SCHOOLS OPPOSE
Most of these had relation to the propagation of the religion of Islam. Secular knowledge, especially of science, has always been regarded by orthodox Mohammedi’s as dangerous to the faith, and for this reason has been discouraged. In the disturbed state of the country in the two centuries preceding the establishment of British rule, the amount of education given, even along these narrow lines, was naturally very small. At the same time the ignorance of the mass of the. Mulla’s led to extreme narrowness of thought and intense bigotry among the people.
This leads up to another influence operating against the social and intellectual progress of Moslems in North India. When the way was ~ being opened up by missionaries to give the people of India the advantages of Western science and knowledge, the Mohammedan Mulla’s everywhere discouraged the people from sending their children to mission schools. Only a few of the poorer people were willing to allow their boys to attend the schools, and that when a monthly stipend was given to the pupil. When, later on, the government undertook to establish a system of public instruction, and pledged the people that there would be no religious instruction given, many, who had refused to ‘’send their boys to the mission schools, were ready-o patronize the secular schools of government for the sake of the knowledge which would fit for government office. But those who patronized the secular schools formed a small minority, even in the cities, while in the country the mass preferred to bring up their sons to the agricultural calling of their fathers, or to induce them to take service in the army or police corps.
ENGLISH KNOWLEDGGE DISCOURAGED
Thus, it came about that schools were for the most part patronized by the Hindu and Christian population rather than by Mohammedans. Consequently, the numerous of open to those who had acquired the necessary English education, were closed to Moslems, who had refused to qualify for them. Hindus and Christians took the lead. To amend this state of things, and to avoid the secularizing influences of government schools, the Moslems organized numerous schools under the direction of the Anjuman- Islam, the society for the defense of Islam. These schools undertook to impart a knowledge of the English language and of Western science as taught in the Indian government schools, and at the same time % I to instill into the minds of the pupils acknowledge of the Arabic language and the tenets of Islam. These schools have rarely exhibited the efficiency of the rival schools, but on the whole, they have done much to advance the social condition of Moslems.: They have done much to arouse a more progressive spirit, and while their value to orthodox Mohammedanism may be questioned, they have raised up a class of men who have secured some of the emoluments of office, and the influence which office and wealth usually bring with them.
ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY
Perhaps the institution which had done most to further the social and material interests of Mohammedans in North India, is the college at Aligarh, founded by the late Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan, who was most liberally aided by Sir William Muir, then lieutenant governor of the Northwest Provinces. For a long time, this college was discredited by the orthodox leaders because of the liberal views of Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan, but the liberal spirit bred through English education in mission and government schools has rapidly grown, so that to-day all educated Mohammedans are proud of their great college, which is likely to become the Moslem University of India. It should be here noted that mission schools should have some of the credit for bringing about this important change in. the material and social life of Moslems. The sons of the weavers, cooks and tailors, who were among the first students of the mission schools in North India, were thereby enabled to secure lucrative positions in the public service, or to become masters in the mission and government schools. Their success naturally inspired others to seek for education in the mission schools. Many Mohammedan parents preferred, and still prefer, to patronize mission, rather than government schools, because they were sure their boys would receive a sound moral and religious training, which they rightly believed to be better than the godless training of the government schools. They also observed that the superior training of students in mission schools enabled them more readily to secure appointments in the public offices, than the training in the less efficient Moslem schools. Hence it has been found that the alumni of our Christian schools prefer to patronize the mission institutions, and often do so in spite of the pressure brought upon them by their co-religionists. Under these new conditions of Moslem community is making progress in material and social life; while in religious life many are prepared to study the claims of Christianity, and some have openly identified themselves with the Christian church.
URDU, PERSIAN AND ARABIC
The education received by Moslem youth in North India is for the most part imparted through the Urdu language. Persian is also taught as a second language necessary to a proper knowledge of Urdu. Arabic is taught as a classic. All higher education in the mission and public schools is imparted through the English language. And yet it remains true that the Moslems speak every language in India, and many of them can only be reached through a provincial tongue. This is especially true of the Mohammedans of Bengal, the Punjab, and the Northwest Frontier province.
For the reasons already mentioned, illiteracy among Mohammedans is very great, the percentage of literates given by the last census being about 3.27 per cent. In the average village, the adult population is almost entirely ignorant of even the alphabet.
The boys who learn to read in the public schools rarely continue in the callings of their fathers, but find their way into the army, the police or the public office. The various educational institutions are, however, rapidly educating the boys. At the same time there is a growing desire among Mohammedans to educate their wives and daughters. The Mohammedan custom of secluding the women in the harem, while not so rigid-in India as in Turkey, nevertheless operates against female education. The social and family system is also affected most unfavorably by polygamy, divorce, and concubinage, and there is little to induce women to desire education. These customs also affect the moral life of Moslems in India very unfavorably and so stand in the way of racial, material, social, and religious development.
SECLUSION OF WOMEN
It is not surprising therefore to find some of the most prominent men ready to reform these customs to the extent of abolishing the seclusion of women. Such men also advocate the abolition of polygamy and concubinage, claiming that the ideal of the Koran is monogamy. It goes without saying that these re- form movements are in no sense a movement of orthodox Islam, but grow out of the liberalizing influence of Western education and the impact of Protestant Christianity. But we believe the new Islam has come to stay and that it will continue to draw to itself educated Mohammedans, especially those who have lost faith in the doctrines taught by the orthodox Mulla’s and Maulvis, and who cannot accept the Christian religion. The eccentric movement led by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadiani the Punjab has been made aside track for some who had practically abandoned the faith of their fathers, but it gives no promise of permanence. The most that can be said for such movements is that they indicate a growing desire for something better than the religion of Islam can give.
CHRISTIAN BID TO CONVERT MUSLIMS
We are now prepared to note what has been done towards the evangelization of Moslems in North India. It is just 307 years since the Jesuit missionary Hieronimo Xavier came to Lahore from Goa in South India and received permission “to teach the Christians”, and to live the life of “one of those who have left the world and all its lusts, wealth, and pleasures, with the view of teaching mantheway to everlasting salvation.” The work was mainly accomplished by private conversation and discussion and by the publication of books. Three books were published, Alife of Christ, Alife of St. Peter, and a disquisition on the religion of Islam. Something was done to enlighten the Moslems respecting the doctrines of Christianity as taught by the Catholic church.
IDOL WORSHIP BY CATHOLICS
The chief difference lies in the fact that the Protestant missionary does not have to apologize for the idola-. torus teaching of the Roman Catholic church. The signal failure of Roman Catholic missions among Moslems may be accounted for mainly by this teaching. Unfortunately, the labored efforts on the part of Roman Catholic missionaries to justify Mariolatry, the worship of images and relics of the saints, and the recognition of sacred places, served to misrepresent the pure Christianity of the gospels. –
HENRY MARTYN’S AGGRESSIVE WORK
The next stage in the efforts of Christians to evangelize Moslems in North India began with the work of Henry Martyn, whose translation of the New Testament into Urdu and Persian laid the foundation for aggressive work among the followers of Islam. He was followed by the Rev. C.G. P fenderhead 1829 was obliged to leave Persia where he had already labored for some four or five years, writing in the Persian language that noble work, The Balance of Truth (Mizan-ul-Haqq.) Coming to India he began his work by transiting his book into the Urdu language adding to it The Way of Life (Tariq ul Hayat) and the Key to the Mysteries (Miftah-ul-Asrar). These books led to a long-continued controversy with the maulvis of Delhi, Agra and Lucknow.
Several public discussions were held, with the result that many Mohammedans were disturbed in their faith, while a few were led into the Christian church.
GALAXY OF CONVERTS
This controversy was taken up by. Christian converts from Islam among whom the most notable are Sayad Mullie Safdar Ali, Mullie Imad Uddin, Sayad Abdulla Athim, E.A.C., the Rev. G.L. Thakur Dass, Babu Ram Chandra, Munshi Mohammed Hanif, Mr. Akbar Masih, Dr. Almad Shah Shaiq, Mulvie Hisam-ud-din, the Rev. Imam Masih, Dr. Barkhurdar Khan and Mulvie Rajjab Ali. Among Europeans writers upon ‘ this controversy the following should be mentioned: The Right Rev# Bishop ‘French, the Right Rev. Bishop Lefroy the Rev James Wilson, the Rev. J. Smith, Rev. S. Leucothoe Rev. T.P. Hughes, D.D., Dr. H. Martyn Clark, Rev. C. W. Forman, D.D., Rev. Samuel Knowles, Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell, the Rev. G.H. Rouse, D.D., the Rev. J. Bates, the Rev. W, St. Clair Tisdall, D.D., the Rev. W. Brodhead, D.D., and the Rev. E.M. Wherry, D.D. Among laymen who have added to the literature of the Moslem controversy are Capt. W.R. Aikman and. Sir Wm. Muir.
Perhaps no writer in modern times has done so much for the controversy with Moslems as the last-mentioned writer. Much more might be said astute literature published in the interest of Moslem evangelization, but time forbids any further statement accepting this; that those who have labored for the transition and revision of the Holy Scriptures into languages read by Mohammedans have placed all workers under obligation. Without the Scriptures little could be done to make Moslems acquitted with the “former Scriptures” mentioned in the Koran.
In recent years many missionaries have felt that some men should be set apart for a special study of Islam in order to be able the better to meet Moslem antagonists. The late Dr. Murdoch, by his facile pen, promoted such specialization, and in consequence several societies have set men apart for this work. This measure will greatly increase the efficiency of this branch of missionary effort. Much will be gained by a change of attitude, while it is true that the great mass of Indian Moslems is as idolatrous as many of the Hindu tribals still it will not do to approach them as if they were the volaries of an idolatrous religion.
SUPERSTITION AMONG CHRISTIANS
“Christianity suffers from the stigma of idolatry and superstition, which the Roman Catholic and Greek churches have fastened upon it. It is not the idolatry and superstition of Islam, that must be met, but its claim to be the only true religion, following the Christian dispensation, as the last dispensation offal. Todo this efficiently, the Moslem must be met by men thoroughly trained not only in the languages of the Christian Scriptures, but also in the language of the Koran; not only in Christian theology and philosophy, <put in the philosophy and theology of the Moslem Mulla’s and Maulvis. Menwith this kind of training can get the respect of the scholarly men among Mohammedans, and thus touch the centers of influence in the Mosier community. This is what has been planned, and we believe that another generation will see the result and record a great advance in the evangelization of Moslems.
The foregoing sketch of missions to Moslems doubtless impresses upon one the thought that Indian presents a field of missionary labor for Moslem evangelization of very unique interest. Unless it be the Dutch East Indies, no other sphere affords to the Christian in this age so many opportunities of approaching the Moslem.
In 1893 the late Mulvie Ima dud-din, D.D., in a paper read before the Parliament of Religions, held at Chicago, gave a list of over 50 Moslem converts, prominent in the missionary work in India. The long list of Indian Christian authors given in this paper, most of whom bear Moslem names, attests the statement of Dr. Imad-ud-din. If we examine the rolls of membership of the churches Tapeshwar, Srinagar, and other frontier stations, Lahore, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Delhi, Allahabad, Lucknow, Krishnagar, etc., we shall be surprised to find how many are of Mosier origin. Perhaps the most striking indication of the inroads being made upon the Moslem ranks is the increasingly large number of Christian preachers and teachers who were once the followers of Islam
