Page 259 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (3)_Neat

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NEGLECTED ARABIA
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Missionary News and Letters
:
: Published Quarterly /
I FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION AMONQ THE FRIENDS OF
* ...
-V THE ARABIAN MISSION

F
One More Year 3 Work For Jesus
w Arabian Mission gathered in annual meeting at Kuwait to
ITH the close of another year the missionaries of the
review the year’s work and to plan for the future. One is
impressed in hearing the reports by the patient persistent
efforts of the workers besieging the still strong and well-nigh im­
pregnable wall of Islanj. Would that we could see that wall cruin-
bliug more rapidly! But the quiet steady effort goes on, often in
ihc lace of discouragements without and within, beset with difficul­
ties many times; yet with cheerfulness and patience, eagerly grasp­
ing every ray of hope and encouragement, ypur missionaries carry
oa upheld by faith; and confident in the worth-whileness of their
ink, they labor on sowing the seed, trusting that God in His own
good time will bring about the harvest. In this labor they, beseech
jour continued prayers and support that progress may be made and
ihat not one inch of ground thus far gained at tremendous effort
nay be lost.
That opposition is still strong is evidenced in many of the re­
ports. Mr. Pennings of Bahrain writes, “Mohammedanism continues • #
lo have about as strong a hold as ever. Now and then some young
men who have read and studied more widely, will air startlingly
radical opinions, so that, listening to them, one would almost imag-
* be that stupendous intellectual and religious changes were inimi-
. brut. But, lifter all, they are but a very small number as compared
with the huge inert mass. To advocate radical opinions*and changes
means going against an almost irresistible current, and that when
there is nothing to be gained either socially or financially by such
1 course. T hough pan-Islam is dead as a political issue, as a social
*nd spiritual force it is as strong as ever, and the young Moham­
medan thinks twice before giving up all that membership in this
nst community means.”
The hold that Islam has on its people is plainly indicated by Mrs.
Van liss who attended some Shi'ah readings for women during the
month of Muharram. She says, “The main interest for us in what
an only be called a religious orgy, is to see the tremendous hold
. that the Shiah tradition has on all but a very small fraction of the
more intelligent Shi’ah women and the power of the Mullayas (lead­
ers) to sway the emotions of the crowd at these times of tensity and
excitement. When we see the large part that religion plays in their