ISLAM

ANDSOCIETY

By JOHANNES B. KRAUS

The philosopherll and ret'Olulionanu oj I/,e eightunth C.elltUry who uWlltdthe filial datD1ling oj an era oj reG/lOn would 'wi belin-e their eyu 1/ they were to Wittile earth again and dUcover how Ihill cenlury oj ourll ill dominated by emotioll6 andother irrational Jactorll. Among the moaC llignijicalll phenomena oj thill 1.."1~nd theywould notice the revival oj IlIlam and the centripetal tendency oj tlie MOIIlem pwplell.

There are at pruenl _ 250 minion Moslem6 living in tlte area6 indicatedon our map. and their number ill c~tantly gr-owi'lg all a ruull oj converllionll andmpid natural irlcreaMl. In Africa up«:ially. pt'opagaf1d4 Jor lhe banner oj theProphet ill makirlg noticeabh progreu, and halJ oj AJrica'll population oj appt'oxi.mately 140 minio,ur already belong. to IlIlam. By the end oj another generalion \L.'e

mUIIC reckon with more than 300 minion Mohammedall6. And lillam ill not only61rong beca_ oj the hOllt oj iU adherent4: it ill aw importanl beca_ oj tile naturalwealth oj the territoriu " emb~ oil well. oj Iraq and Iraft, the cotton ofEgypl and wutern Turltutan, and the nufllerOtu raw malerial11 oj Indonuia, togift but a Jew ezamplu.

Within the la# Jew decadu a growing nationali.". hall mGIU welJ JeU in ManyMohammedan area6. 114 Jorcu are combining with the old religioull Joreu and withMohammw'lI idea that 111lam ill not only a religion but at the /lame lime a politicaland~ communion thal can JulfiU it., meaning only through world domination.II ill Jor tJailt rea60n lhat we are 'lOW publillhing an article on lillam in our uriu onreligioull quutlorill. And lIinu 111lam, more than any oj the other great religionll,pouu6tll a lIOCial Junction, thill article dealII mainly with the lIOCiological~ ojIlIlam.

The author i. ProJUIlOr oj Social Sciencu at the Jochi Univerllity in Tolcyo.and 14 both Jounder and editor oj the "Monumenta NiptHmica."-K.M.

ALL Mohammedans, no matter towhat sect they belong, accept theKoran, the Bible of Islam, as the

revelation of Allah, the one God. Thebasic teachings of the religion of Moham­med contained in the Koran and thefundamental devotional exercises formthe foundation for the unity and uni­formity of the Moslem world. But Mos­lem opinions differ even regarding theacceptance of the Sunna (literally the"habits" of the Prophet, his companions,and their immediate successors), a collec­tion of traditions which was placed besidethe Koran as a necessary and equivalentsupplement. The Sunnites or orthodoxArabs and Turks fully acknowledge theSunna, while the Shiites trace it back toAli, the son-in-law of Mohammed, andinterpret it differently in many details.And of course there were schisms anddifTerences of opinion regarding the vari­ous other traditions and Koran exegeses.

If in the following pages Islam is dealtwith as a uniform structure, this is donefor reasons of simplification. Actually"Islam" is today the collective name fora large number of sects bitterly contend­ing with each other, but which neverthe­less show enough common traits to beconsidered and treated as a uniformreligious structure with its own character.Furthermore, there is a common rhythmof life which pulses through the entireMohammedan world and which, in spiteof all individual nationalist endeavorsand in spite of all sectarian contrasts,creates a feeling of religious and philosoph­ical communion which can at any timebe activated for political purposes.

"THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH • • • ."

The basic religious doctrine of theKoran, in which all Moslems agree. isthe belief in the absolute oneness of Godas the almighty and all-benevolent Lord

ISLAM AND SOCIETY 388

Who has predestined everything andbrings everything to pass. Nevertheless,Man is free in his desires and actions.The Koran does not define the relation­.ship between divine predestination andhuman freedom, and innumerable theo­logical speculations have tried to explainthis relationship.

The c1a!~sic formula: "There is no-God but Allah and Mohammed is Hisprophet," is the indispensable minimumof the Islamic confession of faith. Aroundthis central theological idea are grouped,like concentric spheres, the Islamic stand­ards of law, the conceptions of political,social, and family life. Only with thismonotheistic center in mind can thepolitical, social, and cultural creations.and phenomena of theIslamic world begrasped and explained.{)n it is founded thegreat compactness Qfthe Moslem world ofideas, but also itsinflexible one -sided­ness.

History has not yetbeen able entirelyto explain how Mo­hammed, in the midst of a polytheistic.environment, arrived at his strict,pure monotheism. At any rate, thefounder of the youngest of the threegreat monotheistic religions (Judaism.Christianity, Islam) was under the influenceof the two older forms of faith.

OLDER rNFLUENCES

There were flourishing colonies of J uda­ism in many places ill Arabia, and for along time Mohammed nourished the hopeof winning over the numerous Jewsliving in Yathrip (known later as Medina)and of strengthening the cause of hisGod through their adherence. He evengranted them ritual concessions, such asthe direction of prayer toward Jerusalem.Only when they continued to reject himdid his partiality for them turn to deadlyhate, and he did not rest until he hadcleared Arabia of all Jews.

Althongh there were several transla­tions into Arabic of the Christian Gospelsin pre-Islamic times, Mohammed neversaw one. This is obvious from the mis­takes and confusion in the retelling ofBiblical stories, the reproduction of Bib­lical names, etc., in the Koran. (Forinstance, it confuses Mary, the motherof Christ, with Moses' sister, regardsMary as one of the three divine personsof the Christian doctrine of Trinity, etc.)But the fact that Mohammed was stronglyinfluenced by the Christian world of con­ceptions is revealed by his main idea,the driving force of his mission as a proph­ot, namely, his belief in the imminentend of the world and approaching Day ofJudgment, whoso coming, he was firmlyconvinced, had been revealed to him by

Allah through theangel Gabriel.

Mohammed's mono­theistic idea is closelyconnected with his ideaof the imminent Dayof Judgment. The"Lord of the Day ofJudgment" (KoranI, 3), who holds judg­ment over mankind,cannot, of COUl'8e, be

some local Arab deity .but must bethe one, great, almighty God withWhom no other god may be as­sociated. The greatest sin against Himis "association," i.e., idolatry, polytheism.This belief in one God was to prove asuitable means for fulfilling a twofoldtask: the uniting of the constantly warringArab desert tribes and the concentrationof their martial energies in order toharness them for a new purpose, thefounding of the Kingdom of God, theKingdom of Allah.

THE WORD OF ALLAH

From the very beginning, Mohammedappeared as a "warner," as a preacher ofpenitence, who called the attention ofhis fellow oitizens of Mecca to the comingDay of Judgment. This was a missionwhich appealed to the conscience of theindividual, which summoned him to purify

390 THE XXth CENTURY

his soul, but which did not necessarilycontain the tendency towards forming acommunity. The fact, however, thatMohammed from the first assembled acommunitv of believers around himselfpoints to· the influence of another ideawhich is also reminiscent of Judaism andChristianity: the idea of the Holy Book.The notion he had in this connection wasmore or less as follows: in God's posses­sion there is a heavenlv book in whichGod has entered the '~ntire plan andorder of the world, including the historyof the world and the destiny of eachhuman being; a universal book of lawsand a universal chronicle in one, so tospeak. From time to time God reveals smallparts of this book to various prophetswhom He IleJ)ds out to the difierentpeoples. Thus M08e8 brought the Torafrom God to the Jews, and Jesus theGospel to the Christians; thus God hadnow called him, Mohammed, to bring aHoly Book to the Arabs, the Koran.

God speaks through Mohammed to thecommunity. These pronouncements ofGod must be collected and used for re­ligious purposes. The idea of the com­munity which Mohammed had in mindwas influenced by the ancient Arabtribal constitution. The only new thingabout it was. that the communion oflaliA, instead of the communion of blood,formed the uniting bond. In place ofthe old tribal associations, Mohammedeet up the association of believers, of the"Moslems, II whose title was the unionformed with God through His prophet.It was the ancient Semitic idea of unionwhich continued to exist here. Closelycoupled with this w88 the idea of electionand predestination which to this daypermeates and dominates the Moham­medan world and gives the Moslems theirfeeling of superiority over unbelievers,over the "infidels."

Through the influence of the ancientArab tribal constitution, Mohammed'sKingdom of God waa from the first givena different appearance from t·hat of theChristian Kingdom of God. While thelatter constituted iteelf independently ofthe State aa a spiritual and supernational

comullmity of all believers, as the"Church," Mobammed'seffort8 were direct­ed from the first towards founding atheocratic state. The conception of apurely spiritual community of the"Church," independent of the State. hasin principle always been foreign to Islam.

TilE OUARTER O.F l\fEDlNA

Much has been written and tbeorizedabout Mohammed's development fromthe religious "warner" and preacher ofpenitence of Mecca to the founder of theunited Arab state of Medina. Indeed,it is not easy to find a IJ8ychologicalexplanation for Mohammed's tra·nsforma­tion from an enthusiastic preacher andprophet to a diplomat, a cunning politi­cian, and a skillful statesman. Thechange took place with the hegira, Mo­hammed's 6.ight from Mecca to Yathrib(Medina) in 622 A.D., the first year ofthe Moslem era. In Mecca, a strongopposition had formed among the aristo­cratic citizens and merchants against thefanatical preacher Mohammed, whosecommunity, recruited from among thelower classes, was regarded as a threat to­the existing constitution of the city andthe privileged position of the ruling class.In order to avoid further obstacles andpersecution, Mohammed decided to trans­pla.nt his community to more favorablesoil and moved from unfriendly Meccato Medina. Here he was immediatelywelcomed as the bringer of order amongseveral rival parties, and he was ablewith the aid of his followers to reorganizethe shattered community.

In Medina, Mohammed united the twolocal Arab tribes, to whom he gave thetitle of "helpers" (auar) , with his loyalcompanions in 6.ight (mulaagirun) , andgave this alliance a communal constitu­tion drawn up with masterly skill. Thisconstitution forms the real foundation forthe development by which Islam hasbecome as much a political 88 a religiousstructure. From this new community,the entire Islamic State developed which,in the ten years before Mohammed'sdeath, spread over all of Arabia.

We still possess the text of thisconstitution. Apparently, few changes

ISLAM A~D SOCIETY 39r

"'ere made in the old tribal and familymanners and customs. The old tribalconstitution continued to exist, with thefomler tribal heads retaining part of theirauthority. Common liability on the partof the whole family towards the debtsand delinquenoies of individual membersof the family remained in force. How­ever, among others, the new regulationthat the tribe was in duty bound todeliver up for punishment those memberswho had done grave injury to the membersof another tribe was an inoisive measure,of the greatest importance for the unifica­tion of the desert tribes which were sodeeply involved in feuds and vendettas.

In reality, the "Charter of Medina"represents an absolutely revolutionaryalteration in the former social order andstructure. Two basic innovations wereto shape future society.

SUPRBME AUTHORITY

First of all, "Islam," that is to say,surrender to the will of Allah, obedienceand submission to Allah, was made thehighest command. "Islam" was to pre­cede all other obligations of loyalty.The final and highest authority was torest, not with the tribal chieftains norwith the tribal community as a whole,but with Allah. Allah's tool and inter­preter, however, was the Prophet.

In this way an idea was introducedwhioh had hitherto been foreign to theArab tribes. The proud, independenttribes of the desert were to acknowledgea sovereignty, a higher ruler, a supremeauthority. Those individual members ofa tribe who joined the Islamic com­munity had to renounce a good deal oftheir former freedom (for instance, thefree election of the leader of their tribeor clan) and bow to the divine authorityof Allah. Thus a new theocratio oom­munion arose in which Allah Himselfheld the political power. His prophetMohammed derived all power and au­thority from Allah, Who had assigned tohim his mission as prophet. The new"divine community" (umma) was Churchand State in one a·nd bore characteristicsof both. Religion, social life, and poli-

tics merged into one, and Allah formedthe center.

FAITH REPLACES BLOOD TIES

The second revolutionary innovlltion.was the sharp distinction between .. be­lievers" and "inlidels." The former bondsof blood, the allegiance to the tribe, hELdto withdraw into the background in theface of the communion of religious faith.Even the ties of cloee relationship had to­give way to the new communal principleof faith in Allah and His Prophet. Be­lievers were to help and support oneanother in material things and fonn acommon front against enemies and per­petrators of injury, even if these latter­were of the same blood. Their warswere common to all, and no believer wasallowed to accept peace proposals in­dependently of the other believers if itwas a war in the service and cause ofGod; for terms had to be the same forall. The principle of the "holy wa.r,"which was later to play so important apart in the propagation of Islam, wasalready laid down here. Since politicsand religion had become identical, thewars of expansion and the campaignsagainst the infidels were proclaimed "holywars" and served to found and spreadAllah's Kingdom.

The communal constitution of Medinais all the more important for the under­standing of Islamic society since theKoran says practically nothing about thesocial order and political organization ofthe Moslems. That place which roostnearly approaches a, fundamental uttEor­ance concerning social life (Koran IV,62) contains little more than the generaladmonition to the believers to obey"God and His Prophet and those whohave authority over you." The com­mentators, however, do not agree wheth­er by "those who have authority overyou" are meant the Moslem leaders inMohammed's days and their successors,the caliphs, or only the military leadersof a certain campaign.

TJIB HOLY CITY

With great foresight, Mohammed rec­ognized the possibility of uniting the

191 THE XXth CENTURY

desert tribes and. proceeding from theirracially conditioned ethical level, of har­neeaing them for his dominating idea offounding a Kingdom of God. He cleverlyinoluded the Kaaba in Mecca, the mostsacred object of the Arabs, in his religioustiystem. In this way he succeeded inmaking Mecca, which was already thecommercial and religious center of theheathen Arab tribes, the religious andpolitical center of Islam. According tothe Prophet's interpretation, the Kaabahad been built by Abraham for Ismail,the founder of the Arab race. It wastowards this building that Mohammedhad his believers turn in prayer. Withthe conquest of Mecca, the Islamic com­munity obtained a geographical andtipiritual center whose influence in fur­thering the communion as well as theunity of the Arabs can scarcely be over­8timated. That which the citizens ofMecca could never have dreamed of intheir egoistic, shortsighted policy wasachieved by Mohammed within ten yearsthrough endowing the Arab state whichhe founded with a buoyant religious ideaand linking this idea with the geographical~nter of Arabia-Mecca.

This geographical link was made even'Closer through the prescribing of theJuulj, t,he pilgrimage to Mecca. It is theduty of every adult Mohammedan tomake a pilgrimage to Mecca once in hislifetime, if he is able to do 80. TheKoran gives minute instructions regardingthe carrying out of this pilgrimage and'Contains detailed regulations concerningthe ritual that must be observed, a ritualwhich has undoubtedly absorbed. a largepart of the customs of the heathen Arabs-of pre-Islamic times.

PILGRIMAGE AND PROPAGANDA

Mecca became the spiritual home ofhlam. Every Moslem turns towardsMecca, in the direction of the Kaaba.in his daily periods of prayer. Everytrue believer longs to make a pilgrimageto Mecca. During the last years beforethe Great War, some hundred thousandMoslems a year went to the holy city.{This figure has since declined consider­.ably.) There were many evils to be

found in connection with the annualpilgrimages. and the following bittercriticism from Moslem lips may in manycases be justified: "The rich go forpleasure, the middle classes to do busi­ness, the readers of the Koran for hypoc­risy and in order to be heard and seen,the poor to beg, and thieves to steal."

Nevertheless, these pilgrimages to Mec­ca are a factor of the first importance infurthering the unity of Islam (&180 in thepolitical sense). Here Moslems from allparts of the world meet, here they ex­perience the communion of Islamio faithand destiny, here every year the sense ofa common Islamic struggle against theoutside world of infidels is increased andcarried back by the returning pilgrimsinto the most remote comers of theearth. Here the slogans of the pan­Islamic movement are issued and givento the pilgrims to take home with them:at the time of Abdul Hamid's govern­ment. the idea of the Turkish caliphate;later, after the collapse of the OttomanEmpire, the Mahdi idea, which has partic­ular influence in India and whioh teachesthat the Last Day is approaching. thatMohammed's return is imminent. andthat his last appearance will bring aboutthe end of the world through the unionof all peoples under the banner of theProphet. The present-day slogans per­tain to the concentration and massing ofthe entire Islamic complex of nationswith the final aim of establishing thegreat, all-embracing. pan-Islamio King­dom of God, at first through uniting allIslamic peoples. and later through sub­jecting the world of the infidels.

We need. not deal here with the ques­tion. whether Mohammed, by turningfrom preacher of penitence to politicalorganizer, became disloyal to his originalmission of proclaiming "Islam," i.e.,personal surrender of Man to God. Buteven in those places where "Islam" hasbecome a politico-religious system. it stillaims at furthering the surrender to thewill of Allah. The true Moslem alwaysfeels himself to be the servant of God andsees Allah as the central point of his life.But this relationship to Allah is not a

ISLAlI AND SOCIETY

purely personal affair. From the verybeginning, Mohammed formed the re­ligious life of his believers in such a way-as to follow a certain rhythm, and heset up a oert&in way of life which was1.0 be common to all believers. Healway. had in mind the community and-the Kingdom of God. It was his desire-that Islam should be essentially a com-munal religion, which after all corre­sponded to the Oriental environment inwhich Mohammed founded the newreligion.

THE J'IVE PILLARS OF ISLAM

God and the hereafter form the center·of Islam. All devotional exercises andprescribed deeds are aimed at furthering"Islam," surrender to the will of Allah,.and at preparing the believers for the.coming nay of Judgment. But all theseprescribed exercises are of a communalnature. Mohammed's moral code is inti­mately connected with the idea of the"law." Nowhere is there any clear dis­tinction between rules for behavior and.such regulations and standards which·are otherwise regarded as law or juridical.code. Moral standards and legal stand­.ards merge into one. The most widely.accepted orthodox interpretation of Islam,that of the theologian Abu 'I-Hasan.al-Ash'ari, distinguishes between the fun­damental duty of spiritual faith in the·oneness of God, expressed in the formula:"There is no God but Allah, and Moham­med is His Prophet," and the "branches,"that is, the shoots of-that spiritual faith,-the five duties, called arakan, the fivepillars of Islam.

According to the Koran, these fivepillars are formed by the most importantof the devotional exercises:

(1) The confession of faith in the'formula mentioned above.

(2) The ritual prayer (salat) , which·consists of a series of formulas spoken invarious positions of the body five times·a day. The hour of prayer is announcedby the muezzin from the minaret (maRaf'­

.ah, lighthouse). The ritual purity neces­:8&ry must, if contaminated, be restored,by washing or rubbing with sand Ca.

desert custom). The noon prayer onFridays takes place in the form of acommunal service with two short ser­mons; at least forty believers must bepresent at such a service.

(3) The giving of alms, a voluntarycontribution for the poor and for therequirements of the community, whichwas later transformed into a head tax.

C4-) Fasting, consisting of renouncingfood, drink (tobaooo), and sexual inter­course between sunrise and sunset ofevery day in the month of Ramadan(the ninth month of the M08lem moonyear).

(5) The hadj, the pilgrimage to Mecca,from which exemption can be granted incases where it cannot be carried out.

In addition to these personal dutiesthere is the collective duty of all to takepart in the "holy war" (jihad) againstthe infidels whenever it is proclaimed.

THE RIIYTIIM OF LIFE

With the exception of the communalservice at noon on Fridays, all thesedevotional exercises, which are based oneither the Koran itself or the Sunna, areof a personal nature. However, theseand other customa observed for religiousreasons, as, for instance, abstaining frompork, religious ablutions, wearing a cer­tain costume (the turban and the longgown with sleeves), the changes in dailylife connected with the fasting in themonth of Ramadan, abstaining fromalcoholic beverages, the veiling of women,and many other Moslem customs, allcreate an environment, a rhythm of life,an atmosphere of communion, which setthe believers of Islam apart from out­siders and unite them closely together.In countries with a comparatively lowlevel of civilization, it is these very out­ward habits and customa which exert astrong proselytizing power on the sur­roundings. It has been said that everyMohammedan is also a true propagandist.However, if one regards propaganda &8

advertising in the real sense, this is nottrue. The Moslem proselytes for hisreligion by other means, namely, thematter-of-fact, fearless, and regular per-

1'BE XXtb CENTURY

hammed awakened the opposition of thecivic aristocracy of Mecca by his emphasis.on the equality of all men before Allah.In general, Islam is very serious in its.doctrine of the brotherhood of all be­lievers. As a result, one can find no pro­nounced class distinctions in Moham­medan countries, although Mohammed'sdoctrine could never quite suppress thedistinctions of aristocracy, the arist.()Cra.cyof birth as well as money. According tothe Koran (XLIX, 13), all believers are·equal in the sight of Allah. He who.desires honor should seek it in piety.The equality of new converts (matL-Ylli)of non-Arabian origin with the old heredi­tary believers is not only a theory: everyeffort is made to put it into praotice.Every negro who is converted to Islamis welcome in Arabian and Indian fnmi­lies, eats at the same table with fellowbelievers of other races, and enjoyshospitality everywhere. In spite of thetraditional idea that the negro is a hu­man being of a lower order-for centuriesthe Arabian Mohammedans were themuch-feared slave-hunters of Africa-anegro is accorded social respect as soonas he is converted to Islam. By thismeans he is raised in his social level andfeels protected by his new eommwlityof faith. This is also an important rea­son for the spread of Islam in India,where the members of low castes canensure themselves of social respect andequality by becoming Moslems.

CHOSEN BY ALLAH

The idea of election and p.,cI.estinationgives the believer of Islam a feeling of'security; he feels and believes himself tobe a favorite of Allah to whom the beav-·ens stand open. This feeling of electionis an important factor in the spiritualcohesion of the Islamic family of peoplesand gives it a compactness which shuts.it off from foreign influences. The USSR,which has made great efforts and gone­to great expense to enter into good re­lations with Turkey, Iran, Iraq, andAfghanistan, saw its material aid ac­cepted while at the same time Com­munism and the Communists were de­clared enemies of the State. For the-

fonning of his religious exercises. Whenthe hour for prayer has come, he kneelsdown on his prayer mat wherever he mayhappen to be. He knows no fear ofpeople.

Wherever several Moslem families livein tho same place. a community is formed,and that which had hitherto been cele­brated in private now becomes part ofpublic life. In Moslem coWltries, religionis a decisive fnctor in public life and hasgiven the latter its character. As proofof this one need only look at the beautifulmosques and minarets which dominate atown or district. The simplicity in preach­ing Mohammed's doctrine has, of coursealso contributed towards spreadingit primarily in countries with a poorlydeveloped educational system. As soonas a candidate for acceptance into theMoslem faith knows the simple confes­sion of faith, has learned by heart thefirst sura of the Koran, and observes therules of fasting, the religious ablutions,and the hours of prayer, he can be ae­cepted as a full member. As a rule,circumcision is an indispensable condi­tion; however, exemption is granted evenfrom this with growing frequency. Ad­mission into the faith is usually celebratedby a sort of baptism, a ritual washiugwhich is carried out before the wholecommunity.

ALL BELIEVERS ARE EQUAL

All these customs promote the feelingand consciousness of belonging to thegreat Islamic community of faith. Butin addition to the oommOD faith and thecommon devotional exercises there isthe force of three ideas which permeatethe entire social life of Islam and whichDot only outwanlly further this Moslemcommunity but also provide it with aspiritual bond. They are:

(1) The idea of the brotherhood ofall believers.

(2) The idea of election (being "cho­sen") and of predestination.

(3) The idea of submission to the willof Allah.

Islam knows no caste system and nodifferences of race. From the first, MOo

ISLAM AND SOCIETY 3"

Moslem there is only one single political. ,and religious possibility: the Kingdom of

Mohammed as the Kingdom of Allah forall peoples.

The attainment of this universal king­dom is the ideal and the desire of everytrue Moslem, and today he sees thisattainment moving within reach. In thedecline of the former political empire ofTurkey and in the removal of the politi­cally orientated caliphate, he BeeS thereturn of a revived religious movement.Outward reversals only serve to strength­en his conviction that Allah is clearingHis Kingdom of dl'088 and preparing itfor new conquests.

Actually, the developments after thedestruction of the Turkish Empire ledto the formation of Moslem nationalstates. However, this Moslem national­ism differs essentially from Europeannationalism in that it contains, besidesthe politico-national component (whichpenetrated the Orient from the Occident),an Oriental religious component.

OROWINO SOLIDARITY

The new, pan-Islamic movement, whichoriginates from the belief in election, hasalso a political root; but it must not beregarded primarily as an actual politicalmovement in the sense of the formingof a politically united Moslem empire.Instead, it is rather a spiritual unity ofIslam that is 8triven for and a strength­cning of the feeling of solidarity thatwill have an effect on the entirepolitical, economic, and cultural life too.There is already a lively exchangeof teachers, doctors, and engineersbetween the various Mohammedan coun­tries; and medical congresses in Cairo,technical congresses in Ankara, andseveral All-Islamic congresses, are a visibleexpression of the growing cultural andspiritual union. Radio and press of theMoslem countries are co-operating to anincreasing degree. and even economicsshow a growing inner-Islamic tendency.Regional trade agreements between Mo­hammedan countries, as well as a networkof subsidiary banks which are beingestablished from Egypt in her neigh-

boring cotmtries, proclaim the growingeconomic links.

However. a dark side of thiR convictionin the mission and election of the Islamcommunity is to be found in the limitlesspride with which the Moslems look downupon all members of other faiths, espe­cially in countries of comparatively lowcultural level. It is also revealed in thereactionary segregation from all foreigncultural influences. The centuries-oldtorpor and stagnation of Islam societyis to be traced to this feeling of superiorityas well as to fatalism, about which weshall speak presently. H the low socialposition of women has become worserather than better during the long cen­turies; if progress in all spheres of lifehas only been able to penetrate very slowlyinto the Moslem COWltries; if these Moslemcountries could only be opened up to com­munications after the political coLlapee ofthe caliphate-then the reason for allthis is to be found in the overweeninghaughtiness of the Moslems. Even thepresent pan-Islamic movement still con­tains a good deal of this antiprogressiveself-complacency.

"KISMET"

Complete submission to the will ofAllah, which is the very essence of"Islam," is the third idea which has giventhe social life of the Moslem world itspeculiar stamp. Allah's will is containedin the Koran, which in its original form,that is, in the original Arabian text, pre­sents the original divine revelation, theauthentic Word of God. In accordancewith this, it is not the Prophet but theHoly Book which occupies the centralposition of the religious system. Mo­hammed himself is only the servant ofthe Word. The use of Arabic in theoriginal text of the Koran has givenIslam its predominating Arabian char­acter.

Since Allah's will is immutable andhas been fixed once and for all as thesupreme law, the Moslem moral codetook on a rigid, narrowly conservativecharacter. The fact that Islam, afterthe first impetus of conqueste and cam-

398 THE XXth CENTURY

paigns, bound as it was to this system ofregulations concerning the smallest de­tails of daily life, remained passive forcenturies, is based on this very restrictionof the individual. The crippling of free­dom caused by the one-sided emphasison the principle of submission to the willof Allah had in the long run a deadeningeffect on all vital dynamism. The word"kismet" (litera.lly: portion, lot) expressesthe typical philosophical and spiritualattitude of the old-style orthodox Mos­lem. Since he knows himself to beharnessed to the inevitable process pre­destined by Allah, he bows to Allah'swill with resignation.

MOSQUE, P ABTJA1KENT, AND BANKS

For a long time it appeared as if onlythe absolute, or even despotic form ofgovernment, especially in its blending ofabsolute temporal power with the spirit­ual office of the caliphs, correspondedto the nature of Islam. But today oneoften hears the opinion that this form ofgovernment was rather the product ofhistorical developments. Mohammed him­self did not hesitate to turn to themembers of his community for advicein difficult situations, and the Koranspeaks in one place of the believers "whoconsult with each other in their affairs."At any rate, the new combination ofpowers symbolized in the close proximityof parliament and house of worship inCairo (where a mosque has been combinedwith the domed parliament building asan architectural entity) points to thepossibility of new ways.

Moslem economics were for centurieslimited by the religious prohibition totake interest. The place in the Koranwhich says that Allah permits selling butstrictly prohibits "riba" (from the Arabicverb raba: to grow, to increase, to prac­tice usury) was interpreted to mean thatnot only usury but any kind of takingof interest is not permitted. The fourgreat law schools of the Sunnite Moham­medans, which are all represented inCairo (an indication of the pan-Islamiccharacter of the famous thousand-year­old .AI Azhar University there), have

adopted different attitudes towards this.question. But in the end three of themfound various legal titles and bypaths to­justify the taking of interest and to­admit it as a general practice in theMoslem world. In modern times, Egypthas become a leader among the Moslemstates in the field of banking. The ideathat the running of modem banks byMoslems was irreconcilable with theKoran's ban on taking interest was re­futed by the founding of the first Egyptianbank with Moslem capital and personnelin 1920.

"THRASH THEM WELL"

As regards the much-discussed positionof women in Islam, future research willhave to differentiate between that whichis determined by the Koran and theoriginal traditions, i.e., that which cor­responds to the nature of Islam, and thatwhich has grown up through foreign in­fluences (especially Osmanli customs) andhistorical developments. The practice ofveiling appears to have been commoneven before Mohammed's times; butMohammed strictly enjoined his wivesand daughters to cover themselves withlong veils when they appeared inpublic.

There are several places in the Koranwhere women are dealt with as havingequal rights and equal value with menin the sight of Allah. Besides these,however, there are also places in whichwomen are regarded as not much morethan naughty children. ''Men are supe­rior to women inasmuch as God Himselfhas preferred. men to women . . .. Warnthose whose disobedience you fear andput them into the sleeping chamber andthrash them well. But if they obey,raise not your hand against them."(Koran IV, 38.) Later interpreters ofthis text have emphasized the inabilityof women to fulfill public tasks. Aln1.ostall later interpretations of texts from theKoran by exegetes, especially of Persianand Turkish origin, have greatly loweredthe estimation of women. Most standardcollections of the "Traditions" contain ahadith (tradition) that "most of the

I8LAlr1 AND SOCIETY

a high level, and it would be unjust toclose one's eyes to this.

The new Islamic movement has wroughtmany changes. The example of pro­gressive Turkey, with the seriously under­taken emancipation of women there, is.showing the way for other Moslem coun­tries. Monogamy has become more and'more the rule. Moreover, the family,and not the individual, forms the center'of Moslem society.

Contact with the modern Occident baa.created a state of tension in Islam. On.the one hand there is a reactionarytendency which wishes to cling to the­old and which expects religion alone to·fulfill earthly hopes, above all the IslamiC'domination of the world 88 the embodi­ment of the universal Kingdom of Allah.And on the other there is a progressive­trend which affirms and emphasizes polit­ical, cultural, and humanistic aims &8­

well 88 the adaptation of religion to theneeds of a new era. The new pan-ls1a.miC'current is striving for an adjustmentbetween both trends by trying to com­bine a spiritual, religious renewal on an.Islamic basis with progresaive methods in,the field of culture and politics. lteimpetus is founded in the fact that it is·dominated and welded together by strong.religious motives.

inhabitants of Hell are women and thatbecaU8e of their unbelief." The Propheth88 left Paradise open to women, butmany interpreters of the Koran maintainthat only four women have ever gotthere while innumerable men achievereligious perfection.

VAliISHING HAREMS

According to the Koran (IV, 2), a mancan be married to two, three, or fourwomen at the same time. li, however,his pUl'lle should sufter too much he maykeep female slaves, whose maintenanceis lees costly than that of free women.Divoroe is left largely to the discretionof the husband, who must, however, sup­port each of his divorced wives.

The popular descriptions and notionsof the 8O-ealled harem system are greatlyexaggerated. The custom of polygamyis by no means 88 common 88 it mayseem according to travel reports andbooks about Islam. Besides, the haremaystem and the segregation of women,that is to say, the limitation of theiractivities to the family circle, has had thegood effect that such conditions 88 publioprostitution and licensed quarters arehardly known in the Moslem world.Public morals in Moe1em countries are on

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~very one acta aooordiDg to his manner;but your Lord Jmowa beetwho is beet guided in the path.

The Koran, XVU, Sf.