Page 245 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (3)_Neat

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12 NEGLECTED ARABIA ••ir

pearls to represent the dates. Egyptian papers later said it was the most J
beautiful gift he had received on that occasion. A
Another gauge by which to measure their progress is the schools. m*
About a month ago we were invited to attend some exercises in the main *
school at Moharreq. Now, education has been till recently almost en- W
tirely in the hands of the mulahs, who used the Koran and other religious Vi
works as their textbooks. On this occasion some mullahs were pres-
ent, but not one took part in the program, which was in charge of the.
principal, a young man, educated in Syria. The only religious number
on llie program was a short reading from the Koran at the begiimiug, ^
What they prided themselves on most was their progress in recent mouths-
in English and arithmetic.
v»v;
The older men come in contact with this new progressive, intellectual
life, but make little attempt to tit it into their scheme of thinking;-but x:
not so the younger men who have come of age since the war. Many
of them feel that the old wineskins of orthodox Islam can never hold the A
new discoveries of science and the new outlook upon the world without
bursting. Some are discarding the more crude beliefs of their religion,. :‘A
while a few, though they still observe the external forms through pres- .4
sure of public opinion, openly ridicule beliefs and customs that would
have exposed them to ostracism and persecution less than a decade ago.
I have seen an older man listen to it, shake his head, and leave without :.?j
saying a word. A young man told- me that he had disposed of all his '-A
old works on Islam to replace them with newer writings. When I in- • j
quired what they were, I discovered among them to be a translation of an ]
essay by J. S. Mill.
What about the connection of all this with missionary work? This t
is rather hard to appraise. The older men are certainly not more approach- '.J
able than they used to be. We are invited out less than we used to be, '• •S
but this may be due to the fact that where we once furnished them with Ji
a contact with the Western world, they now get that contact through
the newspapers. As to the younger men, there is far more openness of
mind and willingness to discuss, but they prefer us to avoid the subject
of religion, for while discarding in whole or in part the religion in which
they were reared, it is exceedingly hard for them to listen to the claims
of a religion against which they have been taught to be prejudiced from ' *
their very childhood. Some drift into total unbelief and immorality, ^
loosing what scant restraint Islam had on them. But others, sorry to. .
see their old religion crumble, arc anxious not to have to discard it al* -r
together and are seeking for some remnant on which to base their faith.
These young men deserve our sincerest sympathy and prayers in these J
critical times of transition. Well may we pray that this new intellectual
life may not be a barrier, but rather the prelude to a real spiritual life to .
direct them in this trouble world to the real Light that lighteth every j
man that cometh into the world.” ‘j