Part 25

Look at the letters which spring swiftly and horizontally from right to left as if acting under the impulse of inward life. Then they whirl on their own axis in discreet or impassioned curves, and are next erect, coming to a sudden halt, fixed in perpendicular pride.... They soon start off again in their frenzied gallop, unrolling their flourishes, bestriding each other in delicious fantasy and causing the imagination to soar in wild dreams.

To follow the impulses of the reed-pen having traced these letters; and in order to enjoy the pure eminence of their form or the intense emotion of their curve, one need not be a past master of Arabic, or a subtile graphologist; any artistic mind can penetrate without any effort the secrets of their soul.

After having expressed the ideal of his nation with such perfection, the Arab calligrapher bent beneath his yoke--almost religious--everything that was destined to support or enframe it: architecture and other systems of embellishment, forcing them to yield to the sway of his shaping skill. Under this yoke, the heavy, hemispherical dome of Byzantium was improved by adopting the pure outline of the Saracen helmet. The curves of the commonplace arcade became those of the graceful ogive, or of the proud, far-extending arch. The vulgar towers were metamorphosed into elegant minarets, leaping towards the peaks of ecstasy.

In short, the only system of decoration which, with the exception of Calligraphy, borrows nothing from Nature: geometrical ornament--from which the Greek and Latin races merely derived poor and frigid effects--became endowed with real life. Henceforward this decoration was significantly labelled as Arabesque and, following the example of its model, it tried skilfully to astonish the mind by straying in the midst of the most inextricable entanglements and unexpected transformations....

How precious are the creations of Moslem art! European amateurs nowadays outbid each other in golden offers for its vestiges, hoping through them to introduce into their homes a few gleams of the mirages that inspired their authors. Radiant stained-glass, variegated glassware, stuffs worked with gold or silver wire, sparkling silks, damaskeened, inlaid bronzes, exquisite miniatures in the dwellings of the West, do they not all sing the glory of Islam? Among all these treasures, connoisseurs already begin to prefer those of Calligraphy which animates the transcription of the divine verses by the delicate colouring of copies of the Qur'an, or of the thick enamel of earthware. By so doing, the buyers of Europe follow the example of Mussulman princes of the best epoch who, to possess a page of calligraphy by a celebrated artist, lavished madly as much money as is given in our time for masterpieces of painters. May not these sacred inscriptions, causing their new possessors to be thrilled with admiration by reason of the refined elegance of their form, reveal one day to their purchasers the sublime beauty of the Islamic soul lurking in these writings?

[Sidenote: INFLUENCE OF MOSLEM CIVILISATION IN EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE]

Even at a period when Europe was not inimically inclined towards Islam, it was dazzled by all its marvels and borrowed largely from the decorative and architectural genius of the Arabs. Deep research would soon prove that it owes much more to it than to Greek or Latin antiquity. Such a study would take us too far from our subject. We may, however, point out as a curious fact that, according to the historian Dulaure, Arab architects were employed in the work of building the Parisian cathedral of Notre Dame.

In the domain of science, the influence of the Moslems was just as fertile. To give an idea thereof, we cannot do better than summarise the opinion vouchsafed by Doctor Gustave Le Bon, in his remarkable work: _La Civilisation des Arabes_. (_The Civilisation of the Arabs._)

"First of all, it must be acknowledged that it is to the Arabs that we owe entirely the idea of experiment and observation, the basis of modern scientific methods, overriding the authority of a master. This substitution is therefore not the work of Bacon, to whom it is generally attributed.

"After having established that the highest degree of science consists in giving rise to phenomena oneself and at will, the celebrated scientist Humboldt adds: "The Arabs reached to this height, which was almost unknown to the ancients."

"The study of mathematics enjoyed overspread favour among the Arabs, and the progress accomplished in algebra metamorphosed that science to such an extent that its invention has been attributed to them. To them also are due the first application of algebra to geometry, and the introduction of tangents into trigonometry.

"Astronomy was passionately studied in their schools of Bagdad, Damascus, Samarcand, Cairo, Fez, Toledo, Cordova, etc., and their discoveries may be summed up in the following enumeration: introduction of tangents into astronomical calculation; construction of tables of planetary movement; strict determination of the obliquity of the ecliptic and of its gradual diminution; exact estimation of the procession of the equinoxes; and the first precise determination of the year's duration. To them also we owe the ascertainment of the irregularities of the greatest latitude of the moon, and the discovery of the third lunar inequality, now called variation.

"In geography, the contribution of these bold travellers is most remarkable from a scientific viewpoint. They made those exact astronomical determinations which form the first foundation of cartography, and rectified the enormous errors of position committed by the Greeks.

"From the standpoint of exploration, they published accounts of travel which caused different parts of the world, scarcely suspected before them, to be known, and where no European had ever set foot. The sources of the Nile, running through the great equatorial lakes, are exactly set out on a map by Al-Idrisi, dating from the year 1160, and which were only discovered by Europeans during the second half of the nineteenth century.

"In physical sciences, the sum total of their discoveries is still more considerable. The following enumeration proves their importance: high attainment of knowledge in theoretical physics, especially in optics and in the creation of the most ingenious mechanical apparatus; discovery of the most fundamental bodies of chemistry, such as alcohol, nitric acid, sulphuric acid; and the most essential operation, such as distillation; application of chemistry to pharmacy and commerce, especially as regards the extraction of metals, the manufacturing of paper from rags, which they caused to take the place of parchment, papyrus, or Chinese silk-paper.

"They were probably the first to use the compass in navigation; at any rate, they certainly introduced this fundamental invention to Europe.

"To conclude: the discovery of firearms. In 1205, the Emir Yaqub resorted already to artillery at the siege of Mahdiyya; in 1273, the Sultan Abu Yusuf used cannons at the siege of Sijilmasa. In 1342, two Englishmen, Lord Derby and Lord Salisbury, were present at the siege of Algeciras, defended by the Arabs in the same way. These travellers, having witnessed the effect of gunpowder, took this discovery back to their country. It was through them that the English made use of it, four years later, at Cressy.

"In medical science, the Moslems followed Greek writers, and afterwards made most important progress. Nearly all the medical knowledge of Europe, at the epoch of the Renaissance, was borrowed from them. The remarkable progress they made in medicine, was in surgery; the description of maladies; _materia medica_; and pharmacy. They found out a quantity of methods, of which many--the use of cold water in typhoid fever, for instance--crop up again in modern times, after having been forgotten for centuries.

"_Materia medica_ owes them numerous medicines, such as: cassia, senna, rhubarb, tamarinds, camphor, alcohol, ammonia, etc. They were the true creators of pharmacy. Most of the preparations still in use nowadays are due to them: syrups, emulsions, pomades, ointments, distilled water, etc.

"Surgery also owes fundamental progress to the Arabs. Their work served as a basis for the teaching of Faculties of Medecine until quite recently. In the eleventh century of our era, they knew the treatment of cataract by the lowering or the extraction of the crystalline; lithotrity; the treatment of hemorrhage by irrigations of cold water; the use of caustics; setons; and cauterization by fire. Anesthesia, of which the principal discovery is supposed to be modern, seems to have been known to them. As a matter of fact, they speak favourably of the use of tare before undertaking painful operations, so that the patient may be put to sleep until "loss of consciousness and feeling" supervenes.

"They had, likewise, implicit confidence in hygiene in medical treatment, and placed great reliance on the resources of Nature. Expectant medecine, which, at the present time, seems the last word of modern science, reasons exactly in the same way." (Dr. G. Le Bon, _La Civilisation des Arabes._)

In the domain of ideas, the influence of the Moslems had perhaps still more valuable consequences. Jesus preached equality and fraternity, but Mohammad was lucky enough to realise both among the Believers during his lifetime.

It would be absurd to maintain that his direct example served to guide the French Revolution which was not inspired by much of his levelling works. Nevertheless, the first attempts of this enfranchisement of ideas and the organisation of modern society on a new basis--and of this there is ample proof--resulted logically from his doctrines. Honour is due to a Mussulman philosopher, Ibn Rushd, or Averroes, who lived in Spain from 1120 to 1198, for being the first to introduce freethought--not to be confused with atheism--into Europe.

Averroes opposed the pure deism of Islam to mythological pantheism and Christian anthromorphism, and his 'Commentaries of Aristotle,' although vividly coloured with Mussulman tints, impassioned all independent minds in medieval Europe. Averroism, born of this enthusiasm, may be justly considered not only the precursor of Reform, but also the father of modern Rationalism.

The influence exercised by Mussulman customs over those of Europe was equally healthful. The Arabs joined most chivalrous manners to extreme religious tolerance.

"It was among the Arabs of Spain that the knightly spirit arose, and which was afterwards appropriated by the warriors of the North, as if it was a quality inherent in Christian nations," declares the celebrated Spanish writer Blasco Ibanez, in his novel: _Dans L'Ombre de la Cathédrale_. (_In the Shadow Of the Cathedral._)

In this connection, we can again quote Dr. Le Bon:

"Like Christian chivalry, which came later, Arab chivalry had a code of its own. No man was worthy to be a knight unless he possessed the following qualities: kindness, valour, amability, poetical talent, eloquence, bodily strength, skill in horsemanship, and cleverness in handling spear, sword and bow....

"In 1139, the Wali of Cordova having laid siege to Toledo, belonging to the Christians, Queen Berengaria, shut up in the city, sent him a herald to bid him take notice that it was unworthy of a brave, gallant and generous knight to attack a woman. The Arab general retired forthwith, asking as sole favour, to be allowed the honour of saluting the Queen....

"The Arab chronicles of Spain are full of stories of the same kind, proving how wide-spread were these knight-errant-like qualities; and a very religious learned man, Barthélemy St. Hilaire, admits most loyally how greatly European customs are indebted to them. In his book on the Qur'an, he says: "Through having intercourse with the Arabs and copying them, the boorish barons of the Middle Ages toned down their rough habits; and the knights, without lessening their bravery, became cognisant of more delicate, noble and humane sentiments. It is doubtful whether Christianism alone, despite its benevolence, would have inspired them with these feelings."

"The reader may perhaps ask why, under these conditions, the influence of the Arabs is so unappreciated in our day by learned men who, by their intellect, seem far above all religious prejudice. That is because independence of opinion is more apparent than real, and we are not at all free to think as we like about certain subjects. The hereditary prejudices professed by us against Islamism and its disciples have accumulated during too many centuries not to have become part and parcel of our organism....

"If we join thereto other prejudices also hereditary, and increased in each generation by our detestable classic education: that all sciences and literature of the past spring solely from Greeks and Romans, we can easily understand that the great influence of the Arabs in the history of European civilisation is generally slighted.

"In certain minds, it will always seem humiliating that it is owing to the Moslems that Christian Europe shook off barbarism...." (Dr. Gustave Le Bon, _La Civilisation des Arabes_.)

What caused Islam to fall so rapidly, after having, during the eight centuries of its domination in Spain, placed that country not only at the head of occidental civilisation, but also causing it to shine quite as brilliantly from Delhi and Bokhara, as far as Constantinople and Fez?

The first cause may be found in the non-observance of the strictly levelling principles that the Prophet had so much trouble to establish while he lived, and which were the motives of his successes and of those of the first Caliphs. One example will serve to show how rigorously these principles were applied in the beginning: "A rich, powerful, and proud monarch, Jabala, newly converted, struck violent blows in the face of a poor Bedouin, who had accidentally pushed against him while he was performing his devotions round the Ka'bah. Without bringing into account the rank of the delinquent, or the danger of estranging such an important personage, the Caliph Umar thought that, for the honour of the future of Islam, equality in the eyes of law and justice should override all other considerations, and he condemned King Jabala to undergo, at the hands of the humble Bedouin, the same chastisement as had been inflicted on him."

With such strict principles, no one could possibly be proud of anything but his personal merit; and emulation gave birth to miracles for the greater good of Islam. No men were chosen as chieftains except those who deserved that honour, and once elected, they were blindly obeyed because they were sincerely admired and respected.

Unfortunately, the complete observance of this master-thought of the Prophet turned out to be ephemeral, and already under the rule of Usman, the third Caliph, aristocratic prejudices began to regain their evil influence. In vain Mohammad had said to his beloved daughter, Fatimah-tuz-Zahra: 'Work, and reckon not that it sufficeth for thee to be the Prophet's daughter;' the sons of most unimportant people despised their Mussulman brothers of more lowly origin, and thought that their social rank exempted them from making those efforts without which no progress can be realised. Moreover, rivalry between folks more proud of their forbears than of their own works, gave rise again to fractricidal struggles, as ruthless as in the past; and with them, the disorganisation and general anarchy which had paralysed the Arabs of pre-Islamic times. Having lost all taste for study; separated and exhausted by incessant civil wars, the Moslems were only able to offer puny resistance to the Christians, who dreamt of revenge and had profited by these dissensions to organise themselves.

In the past as in the present, Islam might have avoided the greater part of its misfortunes if it always remembered this last adjuration of the Prophet in his sermon of the Valedictory Pilgrimage: 'Never forget that each Mussulman should be a true brother to every other Mussulman!'

The second cause of its decline arose from one of the primordial qualities of Islam. The conformity of its dogma, almost entirely devoid of supernaturalism, to the exigencies of reason, was at first inestimably advantageous for science which remained free from the hindrances of superstition. This suffices to explain the rapid rise of its civilisation. But the Moslem mind had gradually been lulled, being satisfied with the magnificent results attained by the enthusiasm reigning in the first centuries of the Hegira. Henceforth, it was at the mercy of animal passions and fetishism, in certain newly-conquered countries. The cult of Saints and Intercessors, "Awliya," or "Murabitun," borrowed from the Christians and so strictly forbidden by the Qur'an, took the place of the cult of Science and, by its gross superstitions, barred all progress. Philosophers like Averroes, tried to struggle, but it was too late; the evil was too deeply rooted among the masses who called these enlightened men ungodly, and demanded that they should be put out of favour....

These two causes of decay are ancient, and contradict the real doctrine of the Qur'an. On the other hand, there is one, dating from the nineteenth century only, and which seems to be in accordance, if not with the spirit, at least with the letter of the Holy Book. It is that which results from the prohibition of any interest whatsoever being received for money lent.

"_They who swallow down usury, shall arise in the Resurrection only as he ariseth whom Satan hath infected by his touch. This, for that they say, 'Selling is only the like of usury': and yet Allah hath allowed selling, and forbidden usury._" (THE QUR'AN, II, 276.)

The excellence of this principle is unquestionable, and, until the last century, the slight inconveniences which might have troubled the Moslems in consequence of usury practised among them by Jews and Christians, were not to be compared with the advantages of this precept of the Qur'an. But at the present time, when credit is indispensable to all great undertakings and when bankers have become the real masters of the world, Islam, by adhering with exaggerated rigidity to the text of these verses, is momentarily reduced to financial and political ruin.

[Sidenote: THE FUTURE OF ISLAM]

Such, we think, rapidly summarised, are the three leading causes of the decline of Islam. Is there no remedy for this state of decay? Are the three hundred millions of Moslems spread over the surface of the globe, to be condemned to remain eternally in the sad situation established for them beyond the pale of modern civilisation? We think not.

For the two first causes, the remedy is simple: it consists in returning to the principles instituted by the Prophet. The remedy for the third is to be found perhaps in a less strict interpretation of the letter, but certainly in accordance with the spirit of the Sacred Text. Enlightened Moslems are fully aware of this and henceforward, they will take care not to confuse banking operations with the sordid usury condemned by the Prophet.

The wounds inflicted on Islam during the last century have at last awakened it from its lethargy. Its very defeats have shown the necessity of adopting the scientific method of its conquerors. Islam recalls to mind the words of the Prophet: "Go, seek for Science everywhere, even in far China. The benefits of Science are superior to the benefits of devotion. On the Day of Resurrection, the ink used by learned men and the blood poured out by martyrdom will be measured: neither shall be preferred."

Renovators, men of genius, such as the celebrated Shaykh Abduh, have pointed out the right road to Islam, proving to Moslems that the teaching of Mohammad agrees with that of modern civilisation. Thereupon, myriads of young men have gone through courses of European study and show wonderful facility, without losing any part of their native originality; and, very soon, innumerable Moslems will take their places in the modern world without fear of any disparaging comparisons.

Does this mean that the empire of Islam, following the example of Japan, will regain its rank among great political Powers? Considering that the future of nations depends on the will of Allah, it is always presumptuous to predict it. Besides, political might is the most ephemeral of all; a few months are enough to overthrow the most formidable empires. Such power proves nothing as regards the vitality of a religion, and is not absolutely necessary for the subject we treat.

There are, indeed, conquests differing from those of armies. The imperialism of the Israelites, which disappeared centuries ago, has never given the slightest sign of a return movement and yet few peoples possess at present the power of the Jews. Persecution was for them the great educator, and nowadays, in all the nations of Europe and America, the Jews, thanks to their activity and intelligence, occupy the front rank. Why does not the same effect, due to the same cause--persecution--take place among the Moslems, who, for the most part, are first, cousins to the Israelites and who possess the advantage of numbers?

Objections are against the possibility of such a revival: Fatalism, Fanaticism, Polygamy. Let us examine them.

Can Mussulman fatalism fit in with a real effort on the road to progress?

If some criticisms are justified by the way in which fatalism is understood by certain followers of the Murabitun, it has never possessed the importance ascribed to it. Islam is not more fatalist than determinism, and it is still less than Christianism which adheres strictly to the letter of the following precepts of the Gospel: 'Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.' (ST. MATTHEW, VI, 25.)

Why then accuse fatalism of having paralysed all effects among the Moslems, when the Prophet was one of the most active, persevering and energetic men that the world has ever known; and when Islam is the only religion which, no sooner founded, was followed immediately by such a marvellous épopée and such splendid civilisation? The word "Islam" signifies "resignation to the decrees of Allah," that is to say: to that which looks as if it could be mastered by energy and courage. "_Say: O my people! Act as ye best can._" (THE QUR'AN, IV, 135.) Far from being the cause of weakness, such resignation becomes the source of incomparable moral strength for the Believer, fortifying him during the ordeals of adversity.

In their intercourse with civilised beings belonging to other religions, will not Moslems be stopped by the implacable and irreducible fanaticism of which they are accused? The main object is to see if this fanaticism is not one of the countless legends inimically invented during the Middle Ages. In order to permit the reader to form an opinion, here are some extracts chosen among thousands of the same kind.

According to Ibn Abbas, Ibn Jari said: "A man of the Banu Salim ibn Awf, named Al-Husayn, father of two sons who were Christians, whilst he was a Mussulman, asked the Prophet: "Ought I not force my children to embrace Islamism? They will have no other religion than the Christian religion!" Allah (may He be glorified!) thereupon revealed for this man the following verse: "_Let there be no compulsion in Religion._" (THE QUR'AN, II, 257.)