The Future of Islam

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The Future of Islam

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Title: The Future of Islam
Author: Wilfred Scawen Blunt
Release Date: December 3, 2005 [EBook #17213]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE FUTURE OF ISLAM

BY
WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT
"La taknatu addurru yontharu akduhu Liauda ahsana fin nithami wa
ajmala."
"Fear not. Often pearls are unstrung To be put in better order."
_Published by permission of the Proprietors of the "Fortnightly
Review"_
LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER
SQUARE 1882

PREFACE.
These essays, written for the Fortnightly Review in the summer and
autumn of 1881, were intended as first sketches only of a maturer work
which the author hoped, before giving finally to the public, to complete
at leisure, and develop in a form worthy of critical acceptance, and of
the great subject he had chosen. Events, however, have marched faster
than he at all anticipated, and it has become a matter of importance
with him that the idea they were designed to illustrate should be given
immediate and full publicity. The French, by their invasion of Tunis,
have precipitated the Mohammedan movement in North Africa; Egypt
has roused herself for a great effort of national and religious reform;
and on all sides Islam is seen to be convulsed by political portents of
ever-growing intensity. He believes that his countrymen will in a very
few months have to make their final choice in India, whether they will
lead or be led by the wave of religious energy which is sweeping
eastwards, and he conceives it of consequence that at least they should
know the main issues of the problem before them. To shut their eyes to
the great facts of contemporary history, because that history has no
immediate connection with their daily life, is a course unworthy of a
great nation; and in England, where the opinion of the people guides
the conduct of affairs, can hardly fail to bring disaster. It should be

remembered that the modern British Empire, an agglomeration of races
ruled by public opinion in a remote island, is an experiment new in the
history of the world, and needs justification in exceptional
enlightenment; and it must be remembered, too, that no empire ever yet
was governed without a living policy. The author, therefore, has
resolved to publish his work, crude as it is, without more delay, in the
hope that it may be instrumental in guiding the national choice. He is,
nevertheless, fully aware of its defects both in accuracy and
completeness, and he can only hope that they may be pardoned him in
view of the general truth of the picture he has drawn.
Since the last of these essays was written, their author has returned to
Egypt, and has there had the satisfaction of finding the ideas, vaguely
foreshadowed by him as the dream of some few liberal Ulema of the
Azhar, already a practical reality. Cairo has now declared itself as the
home of progressive thought in Islam, and its university as the once
more independent seat of Arabian theology. Secured from Turkish
interference by the national movement of the Arabs, the Ulema of the
Azhar have joined heart and soul with the party of reform. The
importance of this event can hardly be overrated; and if, as now seems
probable, a liberal Mohammedan Government by a free Mohammedan
people should establish itself firmly on the Nile, it is beyond question
that the basis of a social and political Reformation for all Islam has
been laid. It is more than all a hopeful sign that extreme moderation
with regard to the Caliphate is observed by the Egyptian leaders.
Independence, not opposition, is the motto of the party; and no rent has
been made or is contemplated by them in the orthodox coat of Islam.
Abd el Hamid Khan is still recognized as the actual Emir el Mumenin,
and the restoration of a more legitimate Caliphate is deferred for the
day when its fate shall have overtaken the Ottoman Empire. This is as it
should be. Schism would only weaken the cause of religion, already
threatened by a thousand enemies; and