THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1913. THE MOSLEM MOVEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15411, 20 September 1913, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1913. THE MOSLEM MOVEMENT.

, The, Turk is being steadily driven : from Europe, in spite of his recov- • ery of Adrianople, a recovery made ; possible by the quarrels of Balkan Christians; the Moslem power is . being overthrown throughout North ■ Africa; there.is not a Mahommedan , state in the world which is now entirely free from European domination: but all this does not mean '• that the Moslem movement is dying. The Anglo-Indian Government evidently considers "Islam" still a power to be reckoned with, for the Governor-General, addressing the Legislative Council at Simla, has laid stress upon " the importance of the existence of Turkey as an 'inde- ' pendent Power" and has thought it necessary to give "a word of friendly warning" to the Moslem community of India against giving an "unreasonable interpretation to the idea of Islamic solidarity." Sir Harry Johnston, probably the greatest living authority upon the political conditions of Central Africa, asserts that the real battle between civilisation and barbarism is being fought in that region between the rival missions of Christianity and Mahommedanism; he constantly warns his fellow-countrymen that the Koran is being carried southward by fanatical proselytisers and that unless Christendom bestirs itself the Moslem influence will ultimately extend from Cairo to the Cape among all the indigenous peoples of the dark continent. In Asia, the Moslem movement, far from having reached its flood,,is gaining ground and is said to have become firmly established in Western China where many millions of Chinese have accepted the Koran and become ardent missionaries in their turn. Throughout the East, Christianity, labours tinder the difficulty of being the creed of the hated European, while Mahommedanism—once the creed of conquerors— its new political guise is the creed of anti-Europeans and of fellow sufferers from European intrusion. In India, the antagonisms of Mahommedanism and Brahminism, of monotheist and polytheist, with the martial qualities of the Moslem minority, have greatly assisted British control. There can be no doubt that the Moslem faith is alien and uncongenial to the great majority of the Indian population, but this is presumably due to thenAryan inheritance and to the subtlety of the Hindoo mind. Wherever Mahommedanism comes into contact with non-Aryan nations it displays very remarkable power of proselytism, particularly among peoples practising or disposed to polygamy and . susceptible to crude and materialistic ideals. There is no grave inconsistency between the precepts of the Koran and the practices of Islam, whereas the Chris- ' tian faith is too often not preached : and advanced by the customs and , practices of its nominal adherents. • However that may be the fact remains that the Moslem power is stretched from the head waters of the Yellow River to the head waters of the Nile and grows eastward and southward though beaten back on the north. Is it to be wondered at that our Anglo-Indian Government deprecates an unreasonable interpretation of the idea of Islamic solidarity 1 It may be said that this silent 1 spreading of Islam is very interest- . ing to watch, but that it has nothing to do with New Zealand. No . delusion could be greater. Through Africa, the Moslem movement creeps southward toward the territories of , the Union, giving unity to savage tribes, promising leadership to leaderless myriads. Through Asia, the same Moslem movement advances into the most highly congested parts of the globe, into the hundreds of millions who have evolved a civilisation stronger than our own because less complex and infinitely older, into congested millions who already press upon the sparsely settled English-speaking states of the Pacific and would immediately break down our exclusion policies if they only knew a way. The soothing words of Lord Hardinge in speaking ' of the position of Anglo-Indians in the self-governing colonies of Britain indicate plainly the irritation created even in subjugated India by our refusal to give these "fellow-sub-jects" free entry to our.states. An " idea of Moslem solidarity" which brought all Asia into line against us on this point would be very far from unreasonable" to the excluded races and would certainly have results that could not be ,1

—" I ■ '. i ■'■ : . ( ignored even in New Zealand. We have here no visible frontier against barbarism as have pur f ellow-eitizens of the South African* Union; nor any near neighbourhood of vast open spaces to crowded Asiatic islands as have our fellow-citizens of the Australian Commonwealth; but we have beating against our shores the ocean which washes countries wherein men and women are packed like sheep in a saleyard and we live in the. age of easy transport and of great transportations. Our destinies are interwoven with the destinies of other self-governing British states; we cannot hope to keep alone the con- . trol of our own seas; we must rely upon an Imperial Navy and join with other British states to make it | strong enough to defend us all. We are therefore vitally concerned, as is every other part- of the British Empire, in any great movement which may revolutionise political and military conditions. If we are wise we shall never ignore dangers merely because they are afar off and shall work steadfastly to so develop and people New Zealand that its wealth, , its population and its resources will 1 be ample in the time of national and Imperial need.