M PREFACE OHAMMED was, without doubt, one of the greatest religious leaders that the world has ever seen. He was a genius and a poet, a reformer and a great warrior. But Mohammed could never have said, "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven." His book, his life, his ideals, are not those of Him who placed a little child in the midst and gave the world of childhood an eternal inheritance of blessedness by His own Incarnation. The present wide and increasing interest in child welfare is due to Christianity, and makes the presentation of the facts here given in regard to Moslem childhood, timely. When the whole world has become one neighbourhood, no individual or race can live to itself. This is not a book for children, but about children. It could not be a book for them if it dealt faithfully and fearlessly with the real conditions as observed by eye-witnesses in many lands. Every paragraph could have been corroborated by references to authorities and the use of footnotes; but these have been omitted in order not to litter the pages of the text or weary the reader's patience. A list of correspondents and a bibliography are given at the end of the volume. To all these missionary workers and writers I owe hearty thanks. The illustrations given are intended to set forth vividly the wide extent, the environment, the physical, intellectual and social conditions of Moslem childhood, in order that what we have seen with our eyes and heard with our ears, may enter the heart of the reader also. S. M. ZWEMER. CAIRO. CONTENTS The conquest of Constantinople- The challenge of St. Sophia The Moslem problem a unity-Its childhood a proof Statistics of childhood - Their numbers in Africa, India, Algeria - The areas covered The meuzzin's call from the Pacific to the Atlantic - Many Islam born in the desert Margoliouth's theory of the heat belt The imprint of the desert on Islam - The nomad environment and its types of civilization: Balu- chistan A typical village on the Nile - The bazaar at Algiers The lot of womanhood in the city and among the nomads-Persian village life - Constantinople — Islam among pagan races-In China - In Java The Moslem type of civilization - Degradation of woman- BIRTH, INFANCY, AND PHYSICAL CONDITIONS . The right of the child to be well born The effect of heredity Contagious diseases-Mortality of infants: in Egypt, Turkey, India, Syria, Morocco-An incident from Arabia - Bedouin children - The children of Kashgar-The leper boy- Moosa's baby - Inferiority of girls Legitimacy. Ceremonies observed at birth: in China, Egypt, India Aqiqah - Circumcision- Early marriage and its results-Ignorance of medicine IV THE MIND OF A MOSLEM CHILD. Al-Ghazali - General neglect-Illiteracy in India - Buduh - The religious attitude of Islam - Grovel- PAGE 115 V MORAL TRAINING AND NEGLECT Based on Moslem ethics-The Moslem idea of God and 159 VI THE RELIGION OF A MOSLEM CHILD Education without religion unknown - The effect of 199 THE IMPACT OF THE WEST AND CHRISTIAN MIS- The Tiflis coat of arms -The advent of the railway and Western civilization — Arabia an example — Trip- oli Persia - Modernist movements - Dress - Koran translations - Increasing desire for education, even of girls The Dutch East Indies - India - Constanti- nople Lack of moral training Christian mission- aries as pioneers of education In Egypt-In Persia In Turkey- Mission School at Port Said - Tangier · Muscat - The slave trade Medical missions Christian literature - The Bible-Need of books for children - The fight for character - A little witness |