| The almost universal
disposition, among liberal-minded Americans, to know more of
the Oriental religions than their ancestors knew, has been
productive of at least one good result, viz., the breaking away
from soul-destroying religious superstitions; and the
development of an independent, fearless spirit of thought and
investigation, which is gradually becoming the aggressive and
relentless enemy of the mental slavery of creeds. This may
perhaps, be called the evolution of a new and truer manhood,
which is much more admirable than the old, whose chief
characteristic was its passive belief in religious dogmas
contrary to reason and common-sense, the unquestioning following
of fallible human leaders, who were never able to prove their
right to leadership, nor the truth and validity of the doctrines
they taught.
Happily the days of blind credulity are
passing away slowly but surely. Appeals to mawkish
sentimentality are losing their force and effectiveness. And the
more fully developed classes - the clear-headed, well-balanced,
rational thinkers - demand a reason for everything, refusing to
believe an irrational theory or dogma which has no better claim
to infallibility than the mere assertion of a graduate in
theology.
The primary purpose of this book is
not to destroy nor weaken any creed or system of theory, nor to
make proselytes for Islam, but to arouse and encourage among
English-speaking Christians a spirit of calm, persistent and
unprejudiced investigation to be applied to their own as well as
other systems of religion. Unless one feels his mental
independence and determines to exercise it firmly; unless he
divests himself completely of the prejudices acquired from those
with whom he has been in constant intercourse all his life, and
which cling to him more closely than the barnacles to the ship's
bottom, his investigation will be of little real value to him.
If, as is the rule with the vast majority who claim to be
investigators, he seeks only evidence to corroborate the truth
of his own religiouu belief, and to establish the falsity of all
others, without a genuine desire to know the truth, his
researches will do him more harm than good, and it would be
better for him not to undertake any.
A man, viewing a landscape from the summit
of a mountain, is not deceived by the apparent dimensions
of the objects that meets his gaze in the plain below: he knows
that the man moving about his garden is more than three inches
high; that the house near him is larger than a dry goods-box;
that the railway train, meandering like a serpent among the
hills, is vastly larger and more rapid in its movements than a
caterpillar. Although he may never have had any artistic
training, he knows enough of the rules of perspective to be able
to judge with comparative accuracy of the size of the objects in
the distance. He does not arrive at conclusions upon a tramway
laid down by someone else. He does not judge the size of the
man, the house and the railway train, in the light of theories
promulgated by some prominent scientific authority. He has
learned that distance makes an object appear to the observer
smaller than it really is. He has seen men and houses and
railway trains within a few feet of him, and he knows just about
how large they usually are. In short, he uses his reason and
profits by his own actual experience, without consulting any
scientific authority whatever.
But when this same man undertakes to study
a religious system, different from that which has been
taught to him from childhood, he follows a very different
course, as a rule. He stands upon the mountain and judges the
size of the objects below by the size of those within his
immediate environment. He isn't quite able to understand why the
objects below should be smaller than those about him, and so he
consults "an authority," the writer of which probably
never has been below the summit of the mountain; or if he has,
remained so near the base that he could run hastily up to the
top, if he found himself in danger of learning anything of the
size and nature of the objects in the far distance.
Since my return to my native country I
have been greatly surprised, not only at the general ignorance
prevalent among so-called learned people regarding the life,
character and teachings of the Arabian Prophet [Muhammad (pbuh)],
but also at the self-confident readiness and facility with which
some of these same people express their opinions of Muhammad and
the Islamic system. A few editorial writers have afforded me
considerable amusement by showing how little they know of
Muhammad (pbuh) and Muslim history, and how bold and aggressive
they could be with their very meager armament of facts. One
well-known Western editor after referring to Muhammad as
"the famous Greek Prophet," concluded half a column of
inanity with the assertion that, "others have tried to
introduce Buddhism into America, and failed, as Webb will
fail."
I regret that a lack of space forbids my
giving a number of similar, and no less absurd, examples of the
ignorance prevalent among people who are supposed to be
well-informed.
There is no religious system of which so
little is known, not only among the masses of English-speaking
people, but among those who are considered the most learned, as
the Islamic. This fact is due to several causes, the most
prominent of which is the Muslim's quite natural aversion to the
English language and English-speaking nations, his unwillingness
to have Muslim literature translated into our own language, and
the strong prejudice which as, for the past eight or nine
centuries, existed among Christians against Muslims and Islam.
There is no character in the whole range
of history that has been so persistently and grossly
misrepresented and misunderstood by Christians, as Muhammad (pbuh).
There is not to-day in existence, in print a single work in
English that represents anything, like a true conception of the
character of the inspired Prophet of Arabia, nor of the nature
of the doctrines [Islam] he taught, and it is practically
impossible for the investigator to gain any reliable information
upon the subject from English literature, unless he has acquired
some knowledge of it from other sources.
Therefore, the first purpose of this little
book is to give to the English-speaking world a brief but
accurate and reliable description of the character and purpose
of Muhammad (pbuh), and a general outline of the Islamic system.
During the past six weeks, I have received numerous letters from
various parts of the United States asking me for
literature giving a faithful reflection of the Islamic religion.
These letters have convinced me that there is a widespread and
honest desire among broad-minded Americans to know the truth,
and have induced me to give this work to the public, in advance
of larger and more complete works, which will be published later
on. If this effort results in promoting a few persons to loosen,
even temporarily, the chains that bring them to the church, and
to give the Islamic doctrines a fair unprejudiced and honest
investigation, I shall feel amply repaid for the time and labor
I have given to it.
New York, N.Y. April 19th, 1893.
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