THE BUILDER March, 1927

The Syrian Moslem

By BRO. JOHN W. SHUMAN, California

It was in 1922 and '23 that my first opportunity I came to know
Syrian Mohammedans. During this time we had at the American
University of Beirut, as students, assistants, confreres and
friends, quite a number of "the Faithful," the usual name for the
believers and followers of the Prophet Muhammed. The name Islam,
which the latter used for his new faith, means submission (to the
will of God implied) and "Moslem" is from the same root, meaning
the one who submits. Incidentally the Moslem call Christians and
Jews "unbelievers"; the rest of the world being "idolaters"; the
distinction being that while it is admitted that the former worship
true God, only in a heretical way, the latter follow after false
gods. 

In sunny Syria religion is a very vital issue. Really it has about
the same meaning as politics in Europe and America. This Bible
Land, where many Americans send old clothes and good money to aid
the numerous Western Christian missionary institutions, has a large
number of Ishmaelities in it. About two-thirds of its
fez-and-baggy-pantaloon wearers believe that "There is but one God,
and Muhammed is his Prophet!" This phrase is shouted every morning
and evening from the numerous minarets throughout the Orient to
call the Faithful to prayer.

The Koran is their Bible. Do not attempt to read that book as I
did--in one continuous reading--it is entirely too heavy. As a
result I do not remember very much of it. It says, however, that
the Moslems believe in, honor and revere Jesus Christ, the Son of
Mary, as one of their "Eighty Prophets." It is said also that they
do not believe that so great a one was put to death by men, but
that he escaped and another was substituted for him upon the Cross
(most likely Simon of Cyrene who helped carry the cross along the
Way of Sorrow), nevertheless they heartily curse the Jews for even
trying to put Christ to death.

The children are taught daily at school from the Koran by the
Sheykh, who is the teacher. In the market places the shopkeepers
can be seen and heard reading from The Book in a chanting sing-song
manner. Those who can recite whole pages every day believe that
Allah will specially bless them.

Saint Paul was pretty hard on women; Muhammed was equally if not
more severe on them. No wonder this is a man's world--when both the
Christian and Mohammedan religions make woman subject to her lord
and master, man !

Moslem ladies still wear the veil. Those in Constantinople wear
thinner ones than those in Syria, and so do the pretty ones! These
don't put down the black mask so quickly when passing a strange
man, even in Damascus. Women are pretty much alike the world over
in some respects.

Many of our Moslem women hospital patients were over-modest
according to our American customs. Some insisted on putting the
hospital-bed-gown right on over their street clothes and then
climbing into bed. A physical examination was sometimes almost an
operation, necessitating the untying, unbuttoning, unhooking and
unpinning by the nurses to get the patient's clothes off. Kindness
usually won, although occasionally a patient refused to go to bed
on account of this undressing. It does not pay to be too hard on
folks, for if the individual's peace of mind is destroyed he or she
is uncomfortable and unhappy, and not in a condition to benefit by
treatment.

Syrian customs belong to another part of the world to ours. If they
are changed by our missionaries and so called Occidental
influences, that country will be robbed of much which now makes it
attractive to the stranger visiting it, and quite comfortable to
the natives who have to live there.

Spirituous drink and pig meat are forbidden to pass the lips of the
"Believers." But the truth is that the Moslem is only a human being
after all, and not at all perfect any more than ourselves. Jews
have been known to call pork "fish" when they wanted to eat it; and
Mohammedans will sometimes take alcohol as "medicine." Like the
Christian, the Moslem is liable to err. Arak is the national
spirituous drink of the country of the Vine and Fig, and it carries
a terrific wallop ! Cigarettes, the narghileh, coffee and
sweetmeats are indulged in by both sexes.

The young Moslem is remaining true to "the Faith" in spite of
Christian college and university training. To all outward
appearances they are still Mohammedans. The modern educated Moslem,
although seemingly convinced that Mohammedanism is not as great or
satisfying a religion as Christianity, will remain true to the
Mosque until the end of their days. We should appreciate just what
it means in Mohammedan communities and countries for the "Believer"
to change his religion. First, this Faithful one becomes Faithless
and crushes his parents, especially his mother, with a deep sense
of disgrace. She would much rather see him "a dead Moslem than a
living Christian." We Westerners have little conception of the love
and reverence that an Oriental has for his parents, especially his
mother.

Second, it makes him break with his tribe. This break means more
than the average Christian imagines. To the tribe his position is
secure if he stays true, even though he is the offspring of a
polygamous marriage. He may be poor (it is an unfortunate thing to
be) but the poor one's place in the tribe is assured. The servant,
shepherd, hammaul, scribe, judge or sheykh all have their niche in
the group. If one is sick he will get attention. If he dies he will
get a funeral. If he is loyal to the Ishmaelites, the Ishmaelites
will be loyal to him.

But when he becomes disloyal to the Din (Religion) his tribe shuns
him. He becomes an outcast--boycott and ostracism being used
against him. If he goes out in the world of Gentiles he feels the
finger of scorn pointed at him because he was a Moslem, perhaps a
polygamous child. At best he is doubtful of just how the Christian
will receive him, unless he comes to the Land of the Brave and the
Free--there is a Mosque in Detroit. We in this country know how
society receives an ex-criminal. He is invited to "move along," and
he usually does move--back to his former associates. It is only the
rare one, if he be lucky, who stays straight.

It takes a vast amount of courage to face the consequences of
renouncing one's religion, especially if that religion be
Mohammedanism. The convert pays a heavy price. Should we judge him
too harshly for not paying it ? The question quite naturally
follows: should Christians strive to sell him a religion which
costs so much? We should remember that many of our forefathers
underwent tortures, lingering and fatal, because they would not
change their religion; and we praise, honor and revere them, and
have made saints out of many of them.

We personally had so much in common with our Moslem friends that we
had no time to fight about our few religious differences. It didn't
frighten us much to have an American missionary, who had been born
in Syria, say of one of our Moslem friends, "Don't forget this
fact, that if a religious uprising between Moslems and Christians
were to take place today Doctor So and So would try to kill you!"
I replied, "All is fair in love and war." This American friend had
his throat cut a year ago by his Armenian servant--a Christian !

Our next door neighbors in Beirut were Moslems. Their children and
ours enjoyed playing together in our spacious garden. Madame was
sat down on by one or two of the stiff conservative old-time
missionaries, who said, "Don't let your children play with these
pagan natives, they will contaminate yours." Not much "brotherly
love" in that remark; the thing Christianity strives to teach
mankind.

The peaceful rest of a tired traveler in an Ishmaelite Bedouin
Sheykh's home and his hospitality is, I assure you, not surpassed
elsewhere.

It is said that a Christian Medical Missionary who had lived and
practiced medicine in Syria for many years died. (He is one of the
three men who translated the English Bible into Arabic). When his
"will was read" it was discovered that he had appointed a Moslem
Cadi (Judge) as administrator of his worldly goods. Surely there
were plenty of his fellow missionaries to have chosen from; but
none evidently compared, in his opinion, with this Cadi. This
judge's son is a graduate of the Medical Department of the A.U.B.,
and is the Moslem friend referred to in the above paragraph. He is
a credit to his sire. A missionary recently wrote me, "The Moslems
of L--- are more honest in their dealings with us than the
Christians!"

This land of Syria is a land of great faith, from Abraham unto the
present time. However the people do not have to exert much faith in
reference to the feeding of Elijah by the ravens. They say that
raven was the name of a nomad tribe that lived near the Jordan and
carried cakes and water to Elijah, the prophet, when he was in
hiding. I had thought, like many others, that he was served by the
large black birds by that name, which are so numerous there; the
kind that Poe "quoth" about.

Many think "the locusts and wild honey" diet of John the Baptist
contained the flying (orthopterous) insects, which still come in
swarms in some years, as in Pharoh's and Moses' time. But we
learned the locust is a long pod with two or three beans in it
which grows on a tree! From this bean-pod the natives make a syrup
called "dibs," which our kiddies enjoyed eating on their bread.

All women have much in common. However, our Western women as a rule
do not prefer a fourth of a husband, as did one intelligent Moslem
woman, a wife of a very prominent Sheykh. She had her own children,
house and servants, etc., and seemed quite happy. When asked, "Is
such an arrangement (meaning being one of four wives)
satisfactory?" she replied with the question, "Would you rather own
the fourth of a good stallion or all of a poor one ?" Strangely
enough, exactly the same reply was made by a cultivated Chinese
lady in answer to the inquiries of an American woman curious about
intimate domestic arrangements.

Few of our Western women would care to carry burdens on their heads
as do the women of Asia Minor and elsewhere in the East, or to
trudge along in the dust of the ass her lordly master rides upon.
These women, however, are not of the upper class. Our United states
women prefer to have men look at their faces and not through a
black veil unless they have scarred and wrinkled features. Our own
women prefer to think and act for themselves so that they will keep
fit for fifty, sixty or more years, instead of growing old and fat
at forty, and giving place to a "favorite Fatima."

Oriental women love jewelry, use dyes, stains, paint and powder as
makeup. They and their men use lots of loud perfume, as registered
by our Occidental sense of smell. The stick for daubing black
grease (kohl, or powder of antimony) along the margin of the
eyelids is used very much. It is falsely thought that this will
keep away eye diseases, especially chronic follicular
conjunctivitis (trachoma) which is so common in Asia.

One woman in our women's medical ward gave every sign and symptom
of lead poisoning as a cause for her sickness. Positive proof of
its source was lacking until a lock of her hair was tested in a
test tube with the proper chemical re-agent, which showed the
presence of lead. Her hair dye had lead in it, which had poisoned
her!

The Ramadan is the time of the Moslem's yearly fast and lasts from
new moon to new moon during their ninth month, which compares to
our May. They have a different calendar from ours. This is their
thirteenth century whilst it is our twentieth. It is a period
similar to our Lent, set aside for fasting, almsgiving and
self-denial. Most observe this rite by neither eating nor drinking
from 3 a. m. to sundown. Those who are more faithful refuse to
swallow their saliva during these hours. After this fast comes the
feast, at which time the fatted calf or sheep is killed and lively
celebrations are in order.

It is the life ambition of Allah's devout ones to visit Mecca, the
capital of Hejaz in West Arabia, Muhammed's birthplace. Whilst we
were in Beirut a mighty pilgrimage was on, those coming from Cairo
came by boats to Beirut and went on East by automobile caravans. It
is a question if the Prophet would advise his pilgrims such ease
and luxury in travel. Time changes all things. No doubt but that in
a few years Mecca will be made by air travel and these "Shriners"
can visit their Holy of Holies yearly instead of but once in a
lifetime.
