SOME ASPECTS OF MAHOMMEDANISM.
[TO THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR.") Sta,—In the Spectator of January 10th Mr. Hugh Clifford, in his letter on "Some Aspects of Mahommedanism," says: "The latter religion [i.e., Islam] wins to itself, at the lowest estimate, some sixty thousand converts annually, while all the missionary organisations of Christianity taken together do not secure the allegiance of a tithe of that number of souls in the same period of time." The statement that the number of converts to Christianity made by all Christian agencies is less than six thousand a year is so extremely inaccurate that one cannot but suspect some printer's error or lapsus ca/ami. Take two facts and an estimate. (1) The Church Mis- sionary Society alone in their annual Report for 1900-1 (p. 9) state the number of converts from heathenism in their missions during that year at eight thousand. (The additions by birth, &c., are given as another ten thousand.) (.2) In the article on Christian missions in the "Encyclo- paedia Britannica," by Dr. Maclear, the number of converts made by Protestant missionaries alone in the year 1878 is given as sixty thousand (Vol. XVI., p. 515). Every one even moderately acquainted with modern Christian missions must know what an enormous extension of mission-work there has
been since 1878, and what large additional accessions every year sees to the Christian Church, especially in China and
Central Africa. These two facts would alone be enough to show how very far from the actual facts Mr. Clifford's estimate is; but if you can find room for an estimate of the actual number every year of Christian converts from heathenism I am tempted to venture on it. In the supple- ment to the "Encyclopaedia Britannic& " (Vol. XXX., p. 774) Mr. Eugene Stock, whose authority on the subject will be recognised, quotes the statistics of Protestant mis- sions compiled by Dr. Dennis, of America, and gives from them the increase of communicants in one year as a hundred and twelve thousand one hundred and fifty- two. Now it is certain that the number of " converts "— i.e., the number of persons who receive Christian baptism and place themselves under Christian instruction—is very much larger than the number of communicants. (In the whole native Christian body they are three times as many.) It would be, therefore, very far under the mark to put the converts yearly of Protestant missionaries at a hundred and twenty thousand. The " Congregatio de Propaganda Fide" do not, I believe, publish (or do not regularly publish) any figures for Roman Catholic missions. In India, where alone accurate and tested figures are available, the Roman Catholics were in 1891 64 per cent. of the whole number of native Christians, and in 1901 54 per cent. Assuming that Roman Catholic converts from heathenism bear about the same proportion to the whole body of their native Christians as is the case with Protestants, we are again well under the mark in setting down their number at over a hundred and twenty thousand (Mr. Stock's article gives the Roman Catholic Christians in non-Christian countries as four million five hundred thousand, while the Protestants are four million). We have, therefore, a total for Protestants and Roman Catholics together of considerably over two hundred and forty thousand con4rts every year. The con- verts of the Russo-Greek and Syrian Churches have to be added to this number. The Syrian Church is a large and increasing body on the West Coast of the Madras Presidency; the Russo-Greek Church has important missions in Alaska, Armenia, Japan and China, and Persia. Taking all these facts into consideration, it appears to me that the number of Christian converts every year from heathenism made by "all the missionary organisations of Christianity taken together" cannot be put lower than a quarter of a million. I should not be at all surprised to learn that it was very much larger. At all events, I think I am justified in saying that the number given by Mr. Clifford (under sin thousand) is ludicrously inaccurate. I suspect that the figure given by him for the annual number of converts to Islam is equally far from the truth. But I have not the least notion what the true number may be, nor are there, I think, any means of arriving at it. The absence among Mahommedans of any "regular system of propaganda" or "specially appointed missionaries" is equally questionable. I cannot hope that you, Sir, can spare me any more space on this subject, but any one who will refer to Canon Sell's "Essays on Islam" (1902), especially that on the great religious Orders of Islam, will find facts which (until they are controverted) must pre- vent him from accepting any such statement. We are entitled, therefore, to withhold our assent to the conclusions in Mr. Clifford's letter until the grounds alleged for them are brought into some closer relation with existing facts.—I am, (We are much obliged to Mr. Sewell for his courteous and interesting letter, which certainly seems to prove that the annual conversions to Christianity are much larger than Mr. Clifford assumed.—ED. Spectator.]
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