Arabia: The Cradle of Islam: Studies in the Geography, People and Politics of the Peninsula, with an Account of Islam and Mission-Work.Zwemer, Samuel Marinus
Islamic
Arabia: The Cradle of Islam: Studies in the Geography, People and Politics of the Peninsula, with an Account of Islam and Mission-Work.
Zwemer, Samuel Marinus
Arabian Peninsula; Islam; Missions -- Arabian Peninsula
Regarding the best methods of mission-work in Arabia the experience
of missionaries in other Moslem lands is of the greatest value. The
story of the Church Missionary Society in the Punjab, that of the
North Africa Mission, and above all the work of the Rhenish Society
in Sumatra should be thoroughly familiar to every Arabian missionary.
Medical missions have their special place and power, but also their
special difficulties in pioneer work like that in Arabia. Surgery is
worth infinitely more than medicine among a people like the Arabs,
where fatalism and neglect of the sick make the science of medicine of
doubtful result in so many cases. “Kill or cure” rather than prolonged
treatment, suits the Moslem palate. But a skillful surgeon with a
Turkish diploma holds the key to every door in the entire peninsula.
There is not one mission-hospital in Arabia! Surely such centres as
Bagdad, Busrah, Bahrein, Sana, Jiddah, Hodeidah and Hofhoof should have
these acknowledged powerful methods of evangelization. At Aden and
Muscat there are Indian Government hospitals.
Educational work is still absent or in its infancy as regards the
Moslem population, so that there are no data from which to formulate
theories as to its success. In some parts of Arabia schools might not
be permitted by the government; everywhere they would necessarily at
the outset be very elementary.
Christian women, as experience has proved both in Yemen and
East Arabia, are welcomed everywhere. With or without medical
qualifications, but with hearts of love and sympathy for the poor, the
suffering and the miserable, they can enter every house or hut. Even
in the black tents of Kedar there are aching hearts and wretched homes
to which the gospel of peace and love can alone bring relief. Lady Ann
Blunt and Mrs. Theodore Bent have proved what women can do in Arabia
for the sake of science; will there be no Christian women who will
penetrate as far inland for the sake of their Saviour?
Colportage is an approved mission-method especially in Arabia, since
the Bible and a full line of educational and religious literature is
ready to our hand from the Syrian and Egyptian missions. In Yemen
this work would be especially useful and practicable, but there it
has scarcely been attempted systematically. The problem is to find
men of the right stamp for the work. Men who are “willing to endure
hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ,” with tact and good temper
and the ability to talk with the simple-minded. Love is worth more than
learning in a colporteur. Good health and a clean Turkish passport
are two other requisites. Even this method of work is in its infancy;
there are many open doors for the Word of God that have never yet been
entered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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