MOHAMMEDAN FANATICISM.
THE recent incident at Salonica, the murder of two European Consuls in a religious riot, has again called attention to that unknown factor in the politics of Western Asia and European Turkey, the extent and depth of the feeling known as "Moham- medan fanaticism." In the eyes of many persons, some of them very well-informed, this is by far the most formidable of all the forces with which Europe, in its progress Eastward, a progress which is already marked, and which may become more rapid, will have to deal. They believe that Mohammedanism, once fairly em- braced, or held as a hereditary creed, produces a temper of mind in its devotees which places them in certain circumstances above fear; that they cannot be ruled, that they will dare anything they think for the good of their religion, and slay any one who insults them merely by refusing to acknowledge theirs as the rightfully dominant creed. They allege that Mohammedans everywhere are still in a condition of self-satisfied ignorance, and that if once they awake to the fact that the Crescent is receding before the Cross, and a non-Mussulman population rising to the top, they will appeal to the sword, with utter contempt of consequences, try to slaughter down all opposition, and rather than yield or compromise die fighting, after having inflicted fearful blows upon their enemies. They might, for example, defend the Khalifate till they were all exterminated. It is most dangerous, say these observers, to arouse this spirit, for -once evoked, every Mussulman becomes a soldier who will die rather than give way, and Europe will either be beaten, leaving its Christian protige:s exposed to frightful oppression, or be compelled to extirpate entire populations. - Those who argue in this way, and who find an able exponent of their views in an occasional writer in the Pall Mall Gazette, have undoubtedly certain considerable facts to quote in their favour. It is past question that Mohammedanism does produce among some races, and under certain circumstances, a type of man whom Englishmen, if they approved his ideas, would pro. bably honour as a devoted and deeply religious hero. In every Mohammedan community—European, Asiatic, or African — there exist a few men who believe their creed with an intensity which scarcely any other faith inspires, who entirely trust its promises of future reward, and who are so filled with the pride of being entrusted with the "one true faith," that they hold life and wealth and ease as absolutely nothing, in com- parison with the extension or defence of Islam. They will dare anything to revenge an insult to it, endure anything to win a convert, and face anybody who offers them through death an opportunity of realising its promises, with a sort of delight in suffering which Christians consider a prerogative of their own Martyrs. Over and over again have a few Mohammedan soldiers charged whole masses of Europeans, and cut a way through them, or been cut to pieces, without a man of them making an effort to escape. Over and over again have minute parties of Moplahs in Southern India, seldom exceeding twenty in number, slain some Hindoo oppressor, defied the British Government, and when attacked, rushed on the Highlanders' bayonets, content if only the fatal thrust were deep enough to let them reach the Infidels with their knives. Over and over again have small bodies of Turks, defending villages or forts, refused all terms, endured starvation till the last food was eaten, and then died fighting, with a sort of triumphant joyousness in death. Nothing in the history of Greece, or Rome, or England surpasses the heroism which Mussulmans, excited by their creed, have from time to time exhibited, under the most unfavourable circumstances, and there is no reason to doubt that the spirit which animated such men animates some of their co-religionists now. The idea that the " fanatics " have all died out is as false as the idea that there are no pious Mussul- mans left, men who live up to their light as strictly and earnestly as any Calvinists or High Churchmen in England. There are plenty of both, especially of the fighting fanatics. How should it be otherwise? Once fully believe that death in battle with the Infidel or at the Sultan's command is an instant passport to heaven, that for such a hero there is no probation and no delay, no waiting even for the final Day of Judgment, and fear becomes as impossible as -compromise, and men will go to death, in their own phrase, "as to a bride." And there are such men by the hundred in every Mussulman country, men who will leave every- thing to plunge as missionaries into the African desert, who will accept death with delight if the Khalif requires their lives, though his order be palpably given in error or caprice, and who will, if their " fanaticism " is provoked, try to slaughter whole cities, rather than El Islam should not be admittedly triumphant.
What we fail to believe—and we have had much occasion to study the evidence—is that this spirit is widely extended among Mohammedans ; that there are more convinced men among them than among other creeds, or that their fanaticism, alone among the fanaticisms of the world, pervades whole nations or entire classes of men. It does not, any more than the Christian temper of humble resignation pervades whole nations or classes of Christians. We doubt very much whether Mohammedanism has produced fanatics more heroic or more self-sacrificing than Hindooism, which is an inferior creed ; if the Moplahs have shown themselves any braver than many septa of Rajpoo- tans ; if the " Delhis " would do more than the " dare-devils " of an English regiment; if the Wahabees, the most fanatic of all Mussulmans, would fight for their creed better, say, than ordinary Scotchmen for their own. With the great majority of Mohammedans—that is, with nine-tenths of all who profess the faith—their belief is not a conviction always tempting them to heroic deeds, or even an immutable belief woven into the very nature, as it seems to be with the Jew, but a quiet, undoubting faith, which tends rather to make them passively resigned to anything that happens than actively fanatic. They are no more inclined to spend themselves for the faith, or even to suffer much loss for it, than, say, the tradesmen of a Belgian city, who implicitly believe their Church, and entirely acknowledge that she inculcates the observance of Sunday, but keep the business-door open on that day all the same. They may be roused to battle by preaching, as also Ultramontanes may be roused, but the rousing is not sufficient to elevate them above all human fears or hopes, and they run away when roused like any other badly led troops. The Wahabees shrink from shells as if Mo- hammed had never lived ; the Malays, with a Jehad fully proclaimed, could not face English soldiers ; the Turks in the Crimea, fighting under every condition required by their re- ligion, were not half as efficient as the Piedmontese. They are not prepared to die, except as other men are prepared to die,— that is, when compelled by some motive they think adequate, which motive affects every man in different degrees. If it were not so, 20,000 Englishmen in India could not have subdued the continent, nor could 60,000 Englishmen now restrain 40,000,000 of Mohammedans not at all willing that Englishmen should be there, but not prepared merely for religious reasons to run the desperate risks of trying to drive them out. No doubt, where Mohammedanism has for a long time held an unques- tioned ascendency, there the Faith begets a peculiar form of religious pride, a pride which is perfect, but yet remains sensitive, till Mussulmans tolerate infidels as we tolerate animals, and are irritable to lunacy about religious insult. But we have seen precisely the same spirit among the Orangemen of "the Pale," and it yields to precisely the same inducements,— namely, just but strict control, and the pressure of personal interests of a permanent kind. An Orangeman's annoyance at the loss of ascendency leads to riot, but not to defiance to the death—is the result of wounded pride, not of insulted piety. A Mussulman city like Damascus is as ready for a religious riot as Sandy Row is, but it is no more prepared to die en masse for the ascendency of its faith outside Damascus than Sandy Row is. If there are opponents, the Mussulman mob fights till it is beaten, or till sufficient soldiers and police appear to make fighting very disagreeable, but no longer. A cool Anglo-Indian, with 500 English infantry, would hold Damascus in profound quiet for half-a-century, till the appetite for battle had died out in wealth and comfort. No doubt, if there is no sufficient force at hand, a Mohammedan mob led, as it often is, by one or two true fana- tics, and composed, as it always is, of men who honestly believe there is no crime in a Mussulman country in slaughtering Infidels who resist Mussulman ascendency, will exhibit a spirit of blood- thirstiness which makes it dangerous ; but bloodthirstiness is not force, and the very same mob, at its highest pitch of excitement, would clear out of the streets before a party of English marines, and grow white with terror if a gunboat opened fire. That the Turks, if aware that their ascendency, say, in Bulgaria, was about to depart, might commit atrocities or even organise great massacres is possible, but they would do it not because they were Mohammedans, but because they belonged to a dominant caste of somewhat brutal temper, who resented the loss of a plea- sant ascendancy over their neighbours. They would not do it if they were afraid of punishment, or if it were diffi- cult to do. Indian Mohammedans in a native State some- times attack Hindoo villages merely because they are owned by Hindoos, but they never do it under British rule, although on the fanaticism theory they have rather more temptation, the British Government leaning unconsciously, but quite perceptibly, to the more Pagan but more submissive section of the people. Mussulmans, on this theory, ought never to make quiet subjects, but they do so in great numbers, to England and Russia and France. Of course if they are persecuted directly for their creed they resist, if they can, but so do men of every other faith not penetrated with the Quaker or Moravian sentiment. The Catholics in Cork would not have respected Consuls much if they thought they were preventing a Protestant girl from embracing Catholicism; but that does not prove that Catholics in Cork would kill Pro- testants in Cork because, in, say, Norwich, Catholicism was de- clining. That Mohammedans, in a religious riot, are so apt to take life is not a peculiarity of Mohammedanism, but of the country they live in, where Christians, once excited and in the ascendant are just as murderous. That a European resolution to terminate the Sultan's rule might produce many bloody riots against Christians is quite possible, or even certain ; but that it would produce a religious war is, to our minds, exceedingly doubtful. It might. No one who has studied Asia at all carefully will ever feel quite confident as to the effect of strong emotion on an Asiatic population, but the threat would be just as likely to produce a passive, fatalistic resignation. Or—and this is the most probable result of all—it would send a part of the popula- tion into the Army, prepared to fight fairly well, but not to die in the last ditch ; a part into Asia, to avoid the coming rule of the Frank ; and the remainder into an attitude of sullen sub- missiveness to whatever might occur. A Mohammedan does not think himself damned because an Infidel rules him, any more than a Catholic, does because a Protestant is ruling him ; he only
thinks that the proper order of the world is inverted, and that if he gets a chance, without too much trouble or suffering, he will assist the Almighty to put things a little straight.
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