THE FAITH OF ISLAM.* Wrrnrs the compass of 264 pages,
this volume gives more valu- able information about the doctrines and polity of Islam than any book of moderate size that we are acquainted with in the
• The Faith of Islam. By the Rev. Edward Sell. London : Triihner and Co.
English language. It " embodies," the author tells us, " a study of Islam during a residence of fifteen years in India, the greater part of which time he has been iu daily intercourse with Mussulmans." The book is not written merely as a scholarly contribution to the literature of a creed which has moulded the character of its votaries more powerfully than any religion the world has ever known, Christianity itself not excepted. The author has a distinctly practical aim. The priuciples of Islam, he thinks, " are really at work now, and are as potent as at any previous period." This is a matter of serious moment to a Government, like our own, which numbers so vast a multitude of Muslims among its subjects. Mr. Sell's exposition of the prin- ciples of Islam is derived from original and authentic sources, and from long intercourse with learned students and teachers of Mussulman law. His deductions from these principles appear to us unanswerable, and they are in agreement with the best authorities.
One of the multitude of popular fallacies about Islam is that the Koran contains the entire code, the full gospel of the religion of Mahommed. Even if this were so, the case would be bad enough. For the Koran, in spite of many noble passages, is based on four unchangeable dogmas of fundamental immorality, —polygamy, slavery, persecution, and the suppression of private judgment. But so far is the Koran from being the solo rule of faith and practice for Mussulmans, that " there is not one single sect amongst them whose faith and practice are based on it alone." Theoretically, indeed, the Koran is the supreme rule and guide. But the Koran, like other books, is capable of a variety of interpretations. Practically, therefore, the teaching of the Koran means the teaching of the authoritative exegesis which has been founded upon it. The Sunnis, that is, the orthodox and dominant sect in the world of Islam, acknowledge four foundations of the faith, namely, the Koran, the Sunnat, the Ijmas, and the gills.
The Koran is believed by Muslims to occupy a unique position, and to stand apart from all other inspired writings. It is held to be an objective revelation of the Divine Will ; that is to say, God did not simply illumine the mind of the Prophet and made it the vehicle of the ideas which he wished to convey to men. Every word of the Koran was composed in Heaven and dictated to Mahommed, word by word, in the Arab language, by the tongue of the angel Gabriel. Mr. Sell quotes Ibn Khaldoun, an authoritative Mahommedan writer, in support of this state- ment. " Of all the divine books," says this eminent Mussulman authority, " the Koran is the only one of which the text, words and phrases, have been commuuicated to a prophet by an audible voice. It is otherwise with the Pentateuch, the Gospel, and the other divine books ; the prophets received them in the form of ideas." "This," adds Mr. Sell, " ex- presses the universal belief on this point,—a belief which re- veals the essentially mechanical nature of Islam." The Koran thus claims to be a divine revelation in a sense different from all other sacred books. In the belief of every Mahommedan, that not only the thoughts and ideas are of divine origin, but the very words and their arrangement were communicated to the Prophet as they were coined and composed in the mint of Heaven. It follows, of course, that to ask a Mussulman to alter in the slightest degree anything sanctioned by the Koran is to ask him to commit what would be in his eyes an unpardonable impiety. The Koran, it must be remembered, deals, in contra- distinction to the Gospel, with precepts rather than with principles. Principles admit of indefinite modification and development, and therefore Christianity can adapt itself to every variety of place and circumstance. But a book which lays down positive rules that are held to be binding in the strictness of the letter to the end of time, is manifestly a perpetual barrier against the progress of civilisation among all who believe in it. The Koran is, in fact, the stereotyped expression of the knowledge and notions of a semi-barbarous Arab of the seventh century ; and every word of it being considered the last expression of the divine will, the consequence is that the Mussulman world is for ever bound hand and foot in the fetters of an unchangeable barbarism.
But the Koran, though the corner-stone of Islam, is not its sole foundation. Next in order comes the Tradition. Com- mands given by the Prophet outside the Koran, or an example set by him, is called a " sunnat," which means "a rule." For it is a matter of faith among Mussulmans that the Prophet was supernaturally guided in all he did and said, and even in what he left unsaid. Tradition in the creed of Islam, therefore,
means the recorded sayings, doings, and silences of Mahommed on certain subjects ; and these, though technically not as sacred as the words of the Koran, are practically quite as binding ; in many cases they are the authoritative interpretation of doubtful passages in the Koran. The disastrous effect of this, morally considered, is obvious. For the example of the Prophet, not less than his words, being a rule of guidance for his fol- lowers, they have thus a divine licence, when it suits them, to disregard all the laws of morality in their dealings with non- Musstilmans. " To the Muslims," as Mr. Sell puts it, " all that the Prophet did was perfectly in accord with the will of God. Moral laws have a different application when applied to him. His jealousy, his cruelty to the Jewish Tribes, his indulg- ence in licentiousness, his bold assertion of equality with God as regards his commands, his every act and word, are sinless, and a guide to men as long as the world lasts. It is easy for an apologist for Mahommed to say that this is an accretion, something which grafted itself on to a simple system. It is no such thing. It is rather one of the essential facts of the system." And he goes on to prove his assertion by unimpeachable evidence.
The third pillar of Islam is " Ijma," which means the con- sensus of the leading Afahornmedan theologians on all disputed points of faith and practice. As the empire of Islam spread, circumstances arose for which no provision was made, either in the Koran or in the Sunnat. The authoritative expounders of the law accordingly delivered their "fetvas," or dogmatic inter- pretations founded on the systems of jurisprudence established by the four great orthodox Imitms,—Abn Hanifa, Ibn
As-Shafi'i, and Ilm Hanbal. The Ijma or decisions founded on the systems of the four Imams are absolutely binding on all True Believers ; and since it is article of faith among Mussul- mans that no other Imam will arise with authority to supersede any of the four," this," as Mr. Sell says, "effectually prevents all change, and, by excluding innovation, whether good or bad, keeps Islam stationary. Legislation is now purely deductive. Nothing must be done contrary to the principles contained in the jurisprudence of the four Imams. Thus in any Mussul- man State, legislative reforms are simply impossible. There exists no initiative. The Sultan or Khalif can claim the allegi- ance of his people only so long as he remains the exact executor of the prescriptions of the Law." This is perfectly true, with one qualification. The Khalif does not forfeit the allegiance of his subjects in violating the Sacred Law in obedience to force majeure. So that the only argument to which a Mussulman ruler can yield, without apostasy, in granting reforms inconsistent with the Sacred Law, is the argument of coercion. When that argu- ment is applied, the Sultan is bound to yield in obedience to the very law which forbids him to yield to any argument short of coercion.
In the fourth pillar of Islam, " Qias," are to be found, in the opinion of the champions of Mahommedanism, the principles of a progressive and indefinite development. This is a com- plete error. " Qias " is the technical expression for the system of analogical reasoning practised by the Doctors of the Mussul- man Law. For instance, the Koran forbids the use of khamar, an intoxicating substance. From this it is argued analogically that wine and opium are unlawful, though not forbidden by name. Mussulmans who would persuade Europeans that there is in Islam a capacity for reform and development suitable to varying circumstances, appeal to this system of analogical reasoning by way of proof. "See how elastic our religion is !" they say. "By the system of analogical reasoning, our juris- consults can get anything they please out of the Koran." This is a delusion. "There are strict rules laid down," as Mr. Sell says, " which regulate Qias,' of which the most important is that in all cases it must be based on the Koran, the Sunnat, and the Ijma." For instance, it is a fundamental dogma of the unchangeable law of Islam that the non-Mussulman can never be allowed to enjoy equality of rights with the Mussul- man. Any interpretation or reasoning, therefore, which con- tradicts that dogma must be at once rejected. "All great principles are contained in the Koran and the Sunnat; all that does not coincide with them must be wrong. They are above all criticism." This fact bars completely and for ever all avenues to reform. The consequence is that every Mussulman State bears within its bosom the germ of inevitable decay and death. The Ottoman Empire would have perished long ago, if it were not kept alive by the cruel jealousies of the Great Powers of Europe. We are glad to observe that Lord. Granville is pressing for the fulfilment of the Sultan's obligation to reform his adminis- tration in Armenia. But it ought to be clearly understood that the Sultan cannot reform unless coerced. The only reform which is of the slightest value is the appointment of a non- Mussulman governor, who shall be irremovable for a term of years. Let that be done, and reforms will follow as a natural consequence. But till that is done, nothing is done. And unless England and Russia agree to apply coercion—the determination to do it would be quite sufficient—Lord Dufferin may save himself the trouble of moving in the matter at all.
We trust that Mr. Sell's book will be widely read. There are few subjects upon which the British public require sounder instruction at this moment than the real character of Mussul- man polity and its hopeless incompatibility with modern civi- lisation. Mr. Sell's book contains many interesting points which we have not even indicated. The reader will find in it full information on some of the knotty points in Mahommedan theology and jurisprudence, and also on the principal differ- ences between the numerous Mahommedan sects.
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