The lecturer for 1914 was Professor C. Snouck Hurgronje. Born in Oosterhout, Holland, in 1857, he studied Theology and Oriental Languages at the University of Leiden and continued his studies at the University of Strassburg. In 1880 he published his first important work _Het Mekkaansch Feest_, having resolved to devote himself entirely to the study of Mohammedanism in its widest aspects. After a few years' activity as Lecturer on Mohammedan Law at the Seminary for Netherlands-India in Leiden, he spent eight months (1884-5) in Mecca and Jidda. In 1888, he became lecturer at the University of Leiden and in the same year was sent out as Professor to Batavia in Netherlands-India, where he spent the years 1889-1906. Upon his return he was appointed Professor of Arabic at the University of Leiden. Among his principal published works may be mentioned: _Mekka_, The Hague, 1888-9; _De Beteekenis van den Islam voor zijne Belijders in Oost Indïe_, Leiden, 1883; _Mekkanische Sprichwörter_, The Hague, 1886; _De Atjehers_, Leiden, 1903-4, England tr. London, 1906; _Het Gajôland en zijne Bezvoners_, Batavia, 1903, and _Nederland en de Islâm_, Leiden, 1915. The lectures to be found in the present volume were delivered before the following Institutions: Columbia University, Yale University, The University of Pennsylvania, Meadville Theological Seminary, The University of Chicago, The Lowell Institute, and the Johns Hopkins University. The Committee owes a debt of deep gratitude to Mr. Charles R. Crane for having made possible the course of lectures for the year 1914. RICHARD GOTTHEIL CRAWFORD H. TOY _Committee on Publication_. April, 1916. * * * * * CONTENTS SOME POINTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF ISLÂM. THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM. THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM. ISLÂM AND MODERN THOUGHT. INDEX. Mohammedanism I SOME POINTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF ISLÂM There are more than two hundred million people who call themselves after the name of Mohammed, would not relinquish that name at any price, and cannot imagine a greater blessing for the remainder of humanity than to be incorporated into their communion. Their ideal is no less than that the whole earth should join in the faith that there is no god but Allah and that Mohammed is Allah's last and most perfect messenger, who brought the latest and final revelation of Allah to humanity in Allah's own words. This alone is enough to claim our special interest for the Prophet, who in the seventh century stirred all Arabia into agitation and whose followers soon after his death founded an empire extending from Morocco to China.