The Cross Above the Crescent THE VALIDITY, NECE SSITY AND URGENCY OF MISSIONS TO MosLEMS SAMU EL MARIN US ZWEMER PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGtoN AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Introduction by President JOHN A. MACKAY ZoNDERVAN PUBLI SH ING HOUSE GRA ND RAPIDS MICHIGAN COPYRIGHT, MCMXLI, BY ZONDERVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF JAMES CANTINE n. b. The Vignette on title pa�e is a portion of the old coat-of­ arms of the city of Tifhs. It is taken from the Book of AND Public Arms by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, London, 1915, p. 777. See description in chapter I, p. 19. OUR FRIENDSHIP FOR FIFTY YEARS EIGHT-FIFTEEN FRANKLIN STREET GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN INTRODUCTION f}T was in 1913 at the Kansas City ConV'ention of the Student Volunteer Movement that I first met the author of "The Cross Above the Crescent." The impression made upon me at that time by his Apostolic figure and burning missionary message has remained with me to this day. Not since the days of Raymund Lull, the great Spaniard about whom our author wrote his first book, has any Christian missionary taken more truly to his heart the whole Moslem world, in the com­ plexity of its spiritual problem and the range of its geographical dispersion, than Samuel M.Zwemer. In this new book he distills for his readers the rich quin­ tessence of fifty years' reflection upon Islam and the Christian approach to the Moslem heart. The present volume might indeed be described as the will and testament-though not, we trust, the last will and testament--of the veteran missionary. It en­ shrines his undying faith that the love of the Cross shall one day overcome the hate inspired by the Cres­ cent, and the prayer of Abraham for the great prodigal of the Hebrew-Christian tradition shall one day be ful­ filled: "O that Ishmael might live before Thee." For the last ten years our author has resided in the land of his birth, an exile from the true fatherland of his spirit, the great world of Islam. The exile has compensated, however, for geographical isolation from the scenes of his forty years' work and missionary de- Introduction PREFACE votion by continuing to edit "The Moslem World " a review whose name is a parable of its editor's lif�­ HIS book discusses an old missionary problem long passion. 7 and deals once more with some of its dimensions The imposing list of books and articles on Islam and difficulties. The implications of that problem con­ nd Missions written by Dr. Zwemer, or in collabora­ 8: cern the uture of large areas and populations, in a u n with others, which is printed as an appendix to ! � world which challenges the Church of Jesus Christ to­ this book, is an impressive testimony to the literary day as never before. The last World War produced productivity of their author across the years. Even astonishing changes in the world of Islam and the ore impressive is the nu ber of foreign languages ?1 . 'I! present conflict inEurope, Asia and Africa will doubt­ m which many of these publications have appeared. In less deeply influence conditions in the Near East and these the reader of "The Cross Above the Crescent" the Far East among Moslems. will find other avenues of approach to a great theme We do not pretend to offer a solution to the prob­ and a great heart. lem of preaching the gospel to Moslems, much less JOHN A. MACKAY to propose an easy way by which to win their friend­ Princeton, N. J. ship, by leaving out our message. To carry the heart of that message to the heart of any Moslem still baffies those who try to do it in their own strength. The chapters that follow, concern first, the character of Islam and some of its teachings; then we have chap­ ters on the present situation in the Moslem world with special attention to particular areas which, because of their importance or neglect, have escaped attention. The last five chapters describe methods of evangelism and the nearest way to the Moslem heart. Some of the material is based on articles that have appeared in our quarterly, "The Moslem World." Because this hook is intended for the general public and not for Orientalists, we have followed the conventional spelling of words such as Moslem, Mohammed and Koran. This usage of the words conforms to that of The London Times, The New York Times, The Encyclopedia Preface Britannica and the Columbia University Encyclopedia (1940). There are two ways of studying Islam: that of the scholar in his library and that of the practicing missionary. Both are necessary and missions can never CONTENTS repay their debt to, nor dispense with the work of, I. SYMBOLS AND REALITIES • • • 13 western scholars and Orientalists. Nevertheless, the IL man on the road or in the arena has advantages over THE SEVENFOLD PROBLEM OF ISLAM • 27 the man on the balcony. "Truth is found upon the III. lsLAM: ITs WoRTH AND ITS FAILURE 43 Road. It might even be said that only when a man descends from the Balcony to the Road, whether of IV. WHAT THINK YE OF MOHAMMED? 59 his own free will, or because he has been pitched from V. !SLAM AND THE LIFE BEYOND • 75 it by providential circumstances, does he begin to know what reality is. The deepened insight that men in our VI. ALMS TO WIN CONVERTS • • • 89 time are acquiring into things human and divine is VII. PRESENT DAY MOVEMENTS IN !SLAM • 103 due to the fact that adverse circumstances have driven them from the Balcony where they lived in times of VIII. MOSLEM INDIA • • 117 prosperity on to the Road which is the everlasting IX. home of the real."* THE FOURTH RELIGION OF CHINA 139 These chapters gather fragments of experience and X. ISLAM IN MADAGASCAR • 161 convictions of forty long years spent in Arabia and XI. THE NEW MAP OF ARABIA • 181 Egypt and on many journeys across the world of Islam. In one sense they are only a supplement to my earlier XII. THE WALLS OF JERICHO • • 197 hooks and papers on the subject. In another sense they XIII. may be considered a mature and concluding word of THE BATTLE OF THE BooKs. 215 one who realizes how little he knows about it all. XIV. EVANGELISM AND THE PRINTED PAGE • 229 SAMUEL MARINUS ZWEMER xv. New York City THE NEAREST WAY TO THE MOSLEM HEART • 245 XVI. DYNAMIC EVANGELISM • 257 XVII. THE CROSS TRIUMPHANT • 271 APPENDIX 28.5 * John A. Mackay-A Preface to Christian Theology, p. 39. INDEX 289 New York. 1941. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS JAMES CANTINE (portrait) • Frontispiece VIGNETTE • • • • • • Title Page MOSLEM DIAGRAM OF THE RELATION OF CROSS AND CRESCENT • • • 22 MOSQUE IN PECS HUNGARY NOW USED AS ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH • 30 VILLAGE STREET AND MOSQUE IN EGYPT • • • • 46 I TOMB OF Srnr YAKOOB, A MOSLEM SAINT, TLEMCEN, ALGERIA • • • • • • • 78 SYMBOLS AND REALITIES CHINESE MOSQUE-TOWER AT SIAN • • 126 TOMB OF SAYYID AHMAD KHAN, ALIGARH, INDIA • 142 TYPES OF MOSLEMS IN MADAGASCAR • 174 SAINTS' TOMBS AT MECCA DESTROYED BY ORDER OF IBN SA'UD • • • • • , • • 190 FAREWELL MEETING OF CONVERTS IN CAIRO, 1929. 222 THE GREAT MosQUE IN DELHI, INDIA • • • • 238 A GROUP OF CONVERTS FROM ISLAM IN JAVA , , . , 262 There are over 60,000 altogether in Java and Sumatra CHAPTER I SYMBOLS AND REALITIES 1oR nearly twenty centuries the Cross has been the "A symbol certainly means something, pre­ symbol of ecumenic Christianity. For nearly a sented to the senses or the imagination, which thousand years the Crescent has been in use as a sym­ stands for something else.... There are visible bol of a rival faith. We all know that symbols are objects or sounds which stand for something of only symbols, not realities. Yet as Edwyn Bevan which we already have direct knowledge. Such points out in his Gifford Lectures, on Symbolism and symbols are not intended to give us any infor­ Belief, the value of symbols in the history of human mation about the nature of the thing or things thought is undeniable and "if symbolism thus runs symbolized but to remind us of them or tell through life as a whole, it is a factor of the first im­ us something about their action... The Union portance in religion." In fact, all of the living re­ Jack does not give a patriotic Briton any infor­ ligions today as well as those that have passed away mation about his country or the part it has are distinguished by symbols. The Star of Judaism, played in the world but it reminds him of a the Lotus-blossom of Buddhism, the Swastika of Hin­ whole world of things which he knows other- duism, the Yin-Yang symbol of Taoism, these all have wise." come to represent belief, emotions and usages peculiar -EDWYN BEVAN in to these faiths. The symbol stands for realities. Symbolism and Belief The Cross is the most ancient, the supreme. the universal and eternal symbol of Christianity. It is found everywhere in art and architecture. Christ's messengers are messengers of the Cross and all it sie;­ nifies. The Cross is at once our glorv and our hope. Before Jesus Christ took uo His cross, He summoned His disciples to take uo theirs if thev would follow Him. The Cross which was once a symbol of i�ominv and disgrace, through Him who hung upon it, became 13 14 THE CROSS ABOVE THE CRESCENT SYMBOLS AND REALITIES 15 the symbol of sacrificial love, redemption, mercy and at once the book becomes a Gospel.