Page 352 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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A New Face
Rev. John S. Badeau t
T missionary types we must add a
O THE picture gallery <»I* Islam's
new face. All the old familiar por­
traits are there—just as they have
been for centuries; the scowl of the fanatic
wishing tor the good old (lavs of the Holy
wars, the patriarchial heard of the sheikh
whose unfailing courtesy does not quite con­
ceal his self assurant superiority, the punc­
tilious piety of the rogue who depends on
prayers to drag hint out of his scraps, the
friendly smile of the tolerant neighbor who
sees no reason why you should not follow
your way and he his.' And rarely—very
rarely—r-there is the inquiring gaze of one
really seeking for Truth and ready to fol­
low it.
And now to these must be added another face; not an old face, but a
)uimg and sometimes troubled face, mingling secret perplexity with oj>en
M.|f assurance. These are Islam’s (and not Islam’s alone) agnostics and
near agnostics—young men whose faith has been broken or seriously
trained by the influence of the new age which is breaking over the Hast.
This face is ubiquitous wherever Islam has really plunged into the pursuit
of Western knowledge and science. Cairo, Slambotil, Damascus, Baghdad,
.dl have their young men who while retaining the name Muslim are far
Iii,ii} assenting to the traditional bases of Islam—or of religion-in general.
It is not difficult to sympathetically understand the current which is
•cpiug these men away from their traditional faith. I basically their
lAVl
mind* are grounded on a profound and inclusive resj>ect for all scientific
knowledge. The Great Enlightenment has dawned upon them, and they
uii no longer be bound by what ap|>ears but the ignorance of past ages. In
iiuparison with the educational standards of their people these universilv-
t»
ii.lined young men are so far advanced that the ideas and faiths of common
14-,,Iilc ap|>ear utterly untenable. In a country where many still believe that
ilie earth is flat with the sun hurtling around it daily, it is no wonder that
of the really educated look askance at popular superstitious, and are
miiiic
mill,ted to lump religion in with them.
Cnfortunalely this new outlook is often accompanied by a paucity of
ibe best modern thought. Scientific pronouncements and theories that have I
*,ined or are waning in the West are still at their full in the Hast. White­
head. Eddington, Millikan and Pupin, with their demonstration of the :
utial reasonableness and validity of religious faith are almost unknown;
au,l it is to the agnostic scientists of the earlier decades that educated youth 1 !
U,w>. A smattering of the rampant Behavioristic psychology is enough to
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