Page 59 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (3)_Neat

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NEGLECTED AKA HI A 11

Basrah
Across the bar and up the Shaat-al-Arab the steamer

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i less modem environment. Uliy \\
The past year seems to have been a year of religious controversy in
evangelistic work in Basrah. The Bible shop has come to be Y
a center
f0r religious argument, particularly involving the young men who have
(atiied a little learning in Baghdad and who delight in arguing for

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THE CREEK AND DATE GARDENS. BASRAH i

irgument’s sake. Inquirers have come and gone, literally gone, because
ic most promising of them have traveled to other districts. Opposition
« marked in the bazaar even to the extent of open reviling and antag-
xam. Mr. Bilkert’s plans are to build up a special religious service
u Moslems now that the native Christians have their own native
^ur. Also an evening gathering is planned to give the men recreation
iai amusement of some kind so as to keep them out of the bazaar and
sc coffee shops. There seems to be a need for a second Bible shop in
\jiar but funds for such an undertaking are not available.
Biarah has been the scene of a large number of fires during the past
<u in the mat hut villages, leaving many people without homes. The .;
fAaxy of many of these people is extreme in the first place and the loss
4 a home, meagre as it is, means a large cloud on their horizon. Again 3

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