Review: Aspects of Modern Islam

Reviewed Work(s): Aspects of Islam by Duncan Black Macdonald

Review by: Henry Preserved Smith
Source: The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Jul., 1911), pp. 482-484
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3155247
Accessed: 09-07-2021 05:42 UTC

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482 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY

ASPECTS OF MODERN ISLAM'

Professor Macdonald is already favorably known to us by his stud

of Mohammedanism. His earlier volumes are based on the literat
the one before us gives the results of a somewhat unusual interco
with Moslems of today. The book is one of the Hartford-Lamso
series designed to instruct candidates for the mission field concernin
the religions with which they expect to come in contact. Of the volu
heretofore published in this series none is more illuminating and non
is more timely than this one. The Mohammedan East is evident
just now entering on a new period of history. What part Christia
shall have in this new era depends much on the tact and intellig
of those who are called to bear the gospel to these peoples. Missi
in Moslem lands have done much to elevate and clarify the ideas of t
people, but it is a fact lamented by the missionaries themselves
while they have made many converts from the professedly Chri
churches they have made scarcely any from the Moslem commun
The severity of Moslem law may account for this in part. But it
cerns us to inquire whether part of the blame may not be due to lack
information or lack of sympathy on the part of the missionaries
this point there will no doubt be some incredulity. The East, it will b
said, has long been known. Travelers have delighted to make
acquainted with its scenery, its government, its manners, and custom
We know it almost as well as we know our own country. In a s
this is true--there is information in abundance. But the trouble is
that much of it is misinformation. A body of tradition has been built
up about the oriental which Professor Macdonald does not hesitate to
call a conspiracy of misinformation and which meets the foreigner
at the threshold and dogs his steps even after he has been long in the
land. This misinformation is most likely to have reference to matters
of religion, and it is there of course that it is most fatal to the missionary's
success. Imbued as we are with the modern spirit we do not appreciate
the oriental scale of values. Discovering the Moslem's indifference
to accuracy in matters of fact we accuse him of depravity, and reckon
his religion a sham. The truth is that the very indifference to matters
of fact may arise from the sincerity of his religion. To him the things
of religion are the only things of importance-why should so much
attention be given to merely mundane affairs ? We can easily demon-
'Aspects of Islam. By Duncan Black Macdonald, M.A., D.D., Professor of
Semitic Languages in Hartford Theological Seminary. New York: Macmillan,
I911. xv+375 pages.

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 ASPECTS OF MODERN ISLAM 483

strate to him the superiority of our applied science, but we c

move him thereby to acknowledge the validity of our religio
him as to the early Christians God has chosen the weak things
world to confound the mighty.
This is one of the points convincingly brought out in the vo
before us. And in line with it is the author's statement that the most

successful way of approaching the oriental is through the religious

experience which we call mysticism. Contrary to the usual impression
he found the dervishes the most approachable of all the people with
whom he talked. This is because true religion is emotional in its nature,
and sympathy is a matter of the emotions. It follows that the preaching
of a theology does not succeed in making converts. In the case of Mos-
lems the difficulty arises from the similarity of their theology to our
own. If the missionary discourses of the unity of God, of his power,
of his sovereignty, of the impotence of the human will, of the universal-
ity of sin, of the necessity of divine guidance, of the rewards of heaven,
and the pains of hell, even of the excellence of the gospel, and of the
mission of Jesus, the Moslem will assent to it all. He has known all
these things from his youth. If he is urged to the life of prayer, to works
of charity, to integrity and humility, he may even reply in all sincerity,
"all these things have I kept." But this hearty assent to the doctrine
does not imply that he should change his religion. He affirms the
vanity of earthly things as heartily as we do, and he believes himself
to have chosen that good part which shall not be taken from him.
If now we go farther and take a polemic attitude, we shall perhaps
try to show him that his prophet was no true apostle of Allah. But in
his experience the figure of Mohammed has the central place. All his
life he has heard that Mohammed is the crown and seal of the long line
of divinely inspired men. His religious affection has fastened upon
this figure portrayed in legend as the perfect man. His endeavor to
lead a life well pleasing to God has been constant in imitation of the life
of the Prophet. To cast reflections on the character of Mohammed is
to wound him in his tenderest affections. By inculcating the methods
of historic research we may indeed shake this faith. But the higher
criticism is not religion, and the result of such studies is more likely
to induce a profound skepticism concerning all religion than to make
a truly religious Christian out of a truly religious Moslem.
It is interesting to find that converts to Christianity are in some
instances at least aware that there is in the new religion something
lacking just in this matter of emotional experience. Professor Mac-

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484 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY

donald tells of one man with whom he conversed who had accepted
Christianity and who had been a dervish. He was asked whether if the
specifically Moslem references could be left out of the religious exercise
of the dervish (the zikr) he could still find spiritual profit in it. After
some reflection he replied that he thought he could, and there seemed to
be a shade of regret in his reply as though he wished there might be
something of the kind in Christianity. The conclusion is that the
missionary must have something more than a correct view of Christian
dogma, and something more than a genuinely historic knowledge of
the founder of Islam if he is to get into really sympathetic relations
with these people. To show what this is, is one object of the book
before us. Every one who is interested in heart-religion will read it
with interest and profit.
HENRY PRESERVED SMrTI
MEADVILLE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL

MEADVILLE, PA.

BRIEF MENTION
BIBLE

KENT, C. F. Biblical Geography and History. With Maps. New

Scribner, 1911. xviii+296 pages. $i. 50 net.
No one should think of visiting Bible lands without reading carefully such a
as this. In his dash through the history of the Old and New Testaments th
sketches in the foreground both the ancient and modern topographical setting
narrative. First-hand knowledge of the places gives reality and color and a v
of description that can never be found in a work compiled from other b
give clearness and locality to every place mentioned sixteen maps are inserte
on the best modern authorities. If one wishes to go beyond the lids of this
a selected bibliography points the way.

POLLARD, ALFRED W. Records of the English Bible. The Documents R

to the Translation and Publication of the Bible in English, 1525
London and New York: Frowde, I911. xii+383 pages. 5s. net
The tercentenary of the translation of King James (or Authorized) Vers
opened the doors of our ignorance, and forced us to flee to such sources as are
the Records of the English Bible. Pollard has done a piece of work in this volum
deserves the sincere gratitude of every student of the history of the Englis
He has selected and published sixty-three source-records belonging to the
1525-1611. The stormy times of this period are seen in the decrees of k
bishops, in the jealousies of churchmen and politicians, in the plottings and mo
of printers and publishers, expressed in the unique English style of the six
century. Now we shall be able better than ever to appreciate some of t
cedents of the Authorized Version, and also to understand the reasons for
the strange things that were done by the civil and church authorities from
of Tyndale down to King James.

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