Page 109 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

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6 NEGLECTED ARABIA

and the story of the Precious Death of the Son of God, are put
before them only as heresies to be abjured and trampled on.
“And it is no fancy picture; it is a statement of what is going
on throughout the Moslem countries. In the one land of Algeria
there are well over half a million boys between the ages of live
and fourteen—all shepherdless, all starving in soul, but tor the in­
appreciable number in touch with the mission stations; and this is
only one country's tally.”
Secondly their doctrine of sainthood points to the need for a
mediator. There is scarcely a village in India, in Central Asia,
or in Norlli Africa (hat docs not have ils wcli or patron saint.
Perhaps Allah was loo far removed from our common humanity,
and llis very remoteness made the intercession of saints a neces­
sary part of the Moslem religion; or it may be that this feature
was introduced from Oriental Christianity, in any case, the saint's
tomb is the place to which the mother goes in her need, where
she vows so many candles to be burned for the health of her
child, or mourns the death of her hrst-born. As a general rule
these saints are only a local celebrity. Others are famous
throughout a considerable district. As Professor E. Montet tells
us in regard to North Africa, where they are called marabouts,
“Some are such by right of birth; foremost among them are the
shcrifs, real or pretended descendants of Mohammed, hut the
special path to sainthood is by good works, scientific discoveries
(or what passes for such), asceticism, withdrawal from the world
to a religious retreat, mysticism, so-called miraculous power, etc.”
Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. His book is the
key to the problems of the mystics. His life the golden mean
between worldliness and asceticism. The Parables indicate how
we may lose ourselves in God without losing our identity, how
the branch may bear fruit in the vine, the members have life
from the head, and how we may know by a living experience that
we are in Christ and Christ in us. Compare those mystics in
Islam who found Christ, especially the life of Dr. lmad-ud-Din oi
India. Missions in all North Africa but most of all in Morocco
must face this aspect of Islam. The Moslem brotherhoods are a
challenge to the Christian brotherhood and to the formation of a
Christian Church, which will have all the elements of strength
of Moslem mystic union without its vagaries and lawlessness.