{"product_id":"2940015630558","title":"THE FUTURE OF ISLAM","description":"These essays, written for the _Fortnightly Review_ in the summer and\u003cbr\u003eautumn of 1881, were intended as first sketches only of a maturer work\u003cbr\u003ewhich the author hoped, before giving finally to the public, to complete\u003cbr\u003eat leisure, and develop in a form worthy of critical acceptance, and of\u003cbr\u003ethe great subject he had chosen. Events, however, have marched faster\u003cbr\u003ethan he at all anticipated, and it has become a matter of importance\u003cbr\u003ewith him that the idea they were designed to illustrate should be given\u003cbr\u003eimmediate and full publicity. The French, by their invasion of Tunis,\u003cbr\u003ehave precipitated the Mohammedan movement in North Africa; Egypt has\u003cbr\u003eroused herself for a great effort of national and religious reform; and\u003cbr\u003eon all sides Islam is seen to be convulsed by political portents of\u003cbr\u003eever-growing intensity. He believes that his countrymen will in a very\u003cbr\u003efew months have to make their final choice in India, whether they will\u003cbr\u003elead or be led by the wave of religious energy which is sweeping\u003cbr\u003eeastwards, and he conceives it of consequence that at least they should\u003cbr\u003eknow the main issues of the problem before them. To shut their eyes to\u003cbr\u003ethe great facts of contemporary history, because that history has no\u003cbr\u003eimmediate connection with their daily life, is a course unworthy of a\u003cbr\u003egreat nation; and in England, where the opinion of the people guides the\u003cbr\u003econduct of affairs, can hardly fail to bring disaster. It should be\u003cbr\u003eremembered that the modern British Empire, an agglomeration of races\u003cbr\u003eruled by public opinion in a remote island, is an experiment new in the\u003cbr\u003ehistory of the world, and needs justification in exceptional\u003cbr\u003eenlightenment; and it must be remembered, too, that no empire ever yet\u003cbr\u003ewas governed without a living policy. The author, therefore, has\u003cbr\u003eresolved to publish his work, crude as it is, without more delay, in the\u003cbr\u003ehope that it may be instrumental in guiding the national choice. He is,\u003cbr\u003enevertheless, fully aware of its defects both in accuracy and\u003cbr\u003ecompleteness, and he can only hope that they may be pardoned him in view\u003cbr\u003eof the general truth of the picture he has drawn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince the last of these essays was written, their author has returned to\u003cbr\u003eEgypt, and has there had the satisfaction of finding the ideas, vaguely\u003cbr\u003eforeshadowed by him as the dream of some few liberal Ulema of the Azhar,\u003cbr\u003ealready a practical reality. Cairo has now declared itself as the home\u003cbr\u003eof progressive thought in Islam, and its university as the once more\u003cbr\u003eindependent seat of Arabian theology. Secured from Turkish interference\u003cbr\u003eby the national movement of the Arabs, the Ulema of the Azhar have\u003cbr\u003ejoined heart and soul with the party of reform. The importance of this\u003cbr\u003eevent can hardly be overrated; and if, as now seems probable, a liberal\u003cbr\u003eMohammedan Government by a free Mohammedan people should establish\u003cbr\u003eitself firmly on the Nile, it is beyond question that the basis of a\u003cbr\u003esocial and political Reformation for all Islam has been laid. It is more\u003cbr\u003ethan all a hopeful sign that extreme moderation with regard to the\u003cbr\u003eCaliphate is observed by the Egyptian leaders. Independence, not\u003cbr\u003eopposition, is the motto of the party; and no rent has been made or is\u003cbr\u003econtemplated by them in the orthodox coat of Islam. Abd el Hamid Khan is\u003cbr\u003estill recognized as the actual Emir el Mumenin, and the restoration of a\u003cbr\u003emore legitimate Caliphate is deferred for the day when its fate shall\u003cbr\u003ehave overtaken the Ottoman Empire. This is as it should be. Schism would\u003cbr\u003eonly weaken the cause of religion, already threatened by a thousand\u003cbr\u003eenemies; and the premature appearance of an Anti-Caliph in Egypt or\u003cbr\u003eArabia, however legitimate a candidate he might be by birth for the\u003cbr\u003eoffice, would divide the Mohammedan world into two hostile camps, and so\u003cbr\u003ebring scandal and injury on the general cause. In the meantime, however,\u003cbr\u003eliberal thought will have a fair field for its development, and can\u003cbr\u003ehardly fail to extend its influence wherever the Arabic language is\u003cbr\u003espoken, and among all those races which look on the Azhar as the centre\u003cbr\u003eof their intellectual life. This is a notable achievement, and one which\u003cbr\u003epatience may turn, perhaps in a very few years, to a more general\u003cbr\u003etriumph. There can be little doubt now that the death of Abd el Hamid,\u003cbr\u003eor his fall from Empire, will be the signal for the return of the\u003cbr\u003eCaliphate to Cairo, and a formal renewal there by the Arabian mind of\u003cbr\u003eits lost religious leadership.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47080916451568,"sku":"2940015630558","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015630558","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}