ISLAM AND THE COLOUR BAR
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It has always been the dominating nation that has kept the colour bar alive by thinking itself superior to the subdued. Whether for political reasons or economic, power was always the factor that let go the contempt-bearing people with impunity. There are isolated cases of communities settling among other people and keeping aloof for fear of being ab- sorbed. They may be hated as well as the Jews in Europe, and the Indians in South Africa.
If all the nations of the world were equally powerful there would be very little ill-feeling among them. But there is no reason to despair. We have the example of the Mohammedans before us. Their great unity-inspiring principle—" all Moslems are brothers "—is the basis upon which a " Palace of Peace " could be built. There is no colour bar in Islam. A Negro, a Turk, a Chinamen, an Indian, are all alike. A Turk meeting a Moslem Negro in any part of the world would display the same joyous feelings as he would in the case of his brother Turk. History proves that there has ever been intermarriage among them. Akbar, the Great Mogol, married Hindoo Rajput princesses, thereby setting an example to the unity of the two bitterly opponent nations, the Hindoos and the Mohammedans.—I am, Sir, &c., Spitalfields. A. A. KHAN..
[The Catholic spirit in which Eastern rulers have filled their harems before and after the days of Solomon is undoubted, but it is not the happiest example of the liberal views of Mohammedans.—En. Spectator.]
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