DANGER IN INDIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13889, 29 April 1907, Page 5

DANGER IN INDIA.

MOHAMMEDANS SECRETLY

ARMING.

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. CALCUTTA, April 27. '

Received April 27, 5.8 p.m.) According to the Calcutta newspaper, {•lie Indian Dailyi News, tho Hindus and Mohammedans in the Deccan and Nar;ivangalu; and Nymensiiigh are 6eeretly arming, and serious trouble is threatened;

In an article in tlio London Daily Mail recently it was stated that people need to bo frequently reminded tlwt Mahoinuiedanism is a great and militant creed. Moreover, that it is tlio creed of millions of his Majesty's subjects. Also that tho propagation of its tenets in some of the outlying portions of tlio Empiro is silent, slow, unnoticed, but incredibly sure. One of its most cffoctivo ieaturcs is its power of welding peoples of differing natures and characteristics into a universal brotherhood, with mutual sympathies and mutual aims. It is this power of cohesion which is tho dominating force in all the opposing sects among the diverse Moslem peoples found in Malacca, India, Persia, and I'.gypt up to tho conlines of Western Africa,

_ The peculiarity of Mohammedanism lies in the fact that all mundane affairs are inseparable from tho divino law. Mind the Moslem is the elaborate procedure of a most inquisitorial law having cognisance of all things human and divine. From the mode of expression of the highest ecstasy in devotion down to tho daily uso of tho tooth-stick, lus life and actions are minutely regulated. Consequently thc£c brotherhoods can easily become something' irioro than associations of mystics striving to bring hack their creed to its pristine r.'gidity of doctrine; they havo been, and are, active political forces. A political force of this character is in silent evidence to-day, and the secrc.cy of its methods, the mysterious shadows tlmt veil tlio movement, hint at unknown possibilities. This very mysteriousness is such that it may unduly stimulate the alarVnist to exaggerate its influence as much as it may unduly stimulate tho indifferent to 'Cgai'd it as uinvortliy of anxiety.'' However, its devotees uro widespread.'' No parade is made of its aspirations, no open boast of its slowly-increasing strength; but, for all that, one knows tliat, though shrouded m mystery, still if, i s there, a pos.rblc menace t 0 peace and progress. Iu the Moslem world hope is ever alivo tliaht a mahdi—the Guided of God—will anse to restore tho ono Jaw of Islam, to bung back truth to tho world, and to con. snmmato th e downfall of tho unbeliover. j* ,of (Khartum the world has heard of and forgotten. How many know that theic exists* a mahdi to-day of greater genius and greater staving power? He is known as Mahommed. as Sauussi. Somewhere. in the desert of the Eastern Sahara, the exact spot unknown to any European, he lies hid, patiently biding his time, Inenco go forth proselytising missionaries to the remotest corners of Islam ' Meanwhile at- Mecca, the meeting-place of pilgrims from the whole Moslem world, here is an active centre of the Sanussi bratbei-hood from which vast numbers of the initiated, pledged to secret propagandism penetrate to the farthest limits oE Ibis Moslem world. Large quantities, savs reliable rumour, of anus and munitions of war'have been eolleclcd, and a gioat imperium in imperio lias been established, kept, alive by this mysterious head who broods, and plans, and prays in his unknown desert oasis. It is a picture full of curious interest, this solitary of the desert ruling and directing large and scattered fragments of restless humanity, and waiting, waiting with characteristic endless patience, for the hour to strike when the will of Allah will be fulfilled through Ins efforts.

But Sanu£sj-ism spells something more than a oonspiracy for insurrection, something more than Jha support of a reforming saint who longs-to. clear his creed of oobwebs. Creed and government go together, and ho who fitjhts for Sauussi must be a conquering disciple in other realms than those of faith. In Islam is a seething cauldron which .must one day boil over. Islam means resignation—that is", resignation to the will of Allah. Militant Islam means that if man will not lie resigned to the will of Allah then he must bo made to. i

When the storm bursls. who will have to face its first fury? Will it. bo Franco in Algeria or England in Egypt? Itwill be a volcanic outburst, and to the Christian Powers with Moslem snbjcpla it will mean widespread disaffection. Ultimate victory doubtless lies with the possessor oi' the' machine gun. History will repeat itself, and/ the movement, <is a political movement, will end in failure; but the coat- of the failure may bo vaster than many like to contemplate. l ..