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much, and they will endure much, for the mystic Khalsa or commonwealth; they are not discouraged by defcat, and they ardently look forward to the day when Indians and Arabs, and Persians and Turks, shall all acknowledge the double mission of Nanuk and Govind Sing."

Again, he declares that "England has carefully to watch the progress of that change in social relations and religious feelings of which Sikhism is the most marked exponent. Among all ranks of men there is a spirit at work which rejects as vain the ancient forms and ideas, whether of Brahminism or Mahometanism, and which clings for present solace and future happiness to new intercessors and to another manifestation of divine power and mercy. The extension of Sikh arms would speedily lead to the recognition of Nanuk and Govind as the long-looked-for comforters." And he notices in a note the currency among the Hindoos of a spurious passage of the Bhagavat-Geeta, which foretells the rule, after "the fair kings"--which are supposed to be the English-of a dynasty of "silent kings," who are identified with the disciples of Nanuk the seer.

At a time when Sikh bravery and faithfulness have, after English, mainly contributed to maintain our empire in India, it is well to remember these warnings; not that we may selfishly endeavour to crush Sikhism, but that we may lift our Christianity to the level of the vitality of its faith. Let us be assured that no mere system of doctrines will ever avail to conquer that faith. Nothing can subdue it but the sight of a strong, living, organic Christian church, in which it shall recognise the true model of its mystic Khalsa. If we simply break down caste in India without upraising a Christendom, we shall be working for the disciples of Govind, and not for Christ. Though the Sikh power may have been broken at Sobraon, and again at Goojerat, the Sikh faith remains, and it has survived far worse disasters than it has experienced at our hands. When Govind died in his despair, a dishonoured Mogul pensioner, who could have imagined that, a century later, Runjeet Sing would build up the splendid kingdom of the Punjab?

APPENDIX D. (See p. 78.)

'Mussulman Religious Reform.

In the same invaluable number of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1852 (Vol. XII., part 2), which contains Captain Macpherson's account of the Khonds and General Briggs' lecture on the aboriginal races of India, will be found also a translation of a work by a contemporary Mussulman reformer, Maulavee Ismail Hajee, with a notice of the author, by a well-known and accomplished Mussulman, Mir Shahamat Ali. The paper is a dry one; and we feel in reading it that it was written amid wholly different circumstances from our own. But, nevertheless, at the present juncture, it contains matter of the deepest interest and importance.

Maulavee Ismail, we are told, was a disciple of Syed Ahmed, mentioned in the text: born in 1781, he was killed with the Syed in 1831, fighting against the Sikhs. But he seems to have been far superior in attainments, genius, and earnestness to his master, whose fame, the writer says, was greatly owing to him, and who was, indeed, scarcely known before he officiated with the Maulavee.

Indian Mahommedanism, we should observe, belongs in the main to the former of the two great divisions of that worship, the Soonnee, comprising the Arabs and the Turks; but intercourse with Persia has also deeply leavened it (in Oude and Bengal especially) with the doctrines and practices of the Sheeahs, who form the other division. The twofold object of the reformers was, to purge it from Hindoo corruptions on the one hand, and from the Sheeah leaven on the other. Thus, the work in question, the "Takwiyat-ul-Iman," inveighs,

on the one hand, against observances in honour of the Sheeah Imaums (holy men descended from Ali, the Prophet's nephew and son-in-law) and other Mussulman saints, or even Mahommed himself; on the other, against worship or respect paid to Hindoo divinities, especially mentioning the Hindoo goddesses. It condemns in the most open manner astrology, the belief in omens, magic, gifts of foretelling, and the like.

The following extracts will show how much noble truth is still mixed up with the Mussulman faith in India at the present day.1

"Hear ye! all men are servants of God. The duty of a servant is servitude. The one who will not perform his service, is no longer a servant. True service is to correct one's faith. Of him whose faith is unsettled, no services are acceptable; but of one whose faith is right, even little service is to be taken for much. Hence, every one ought to take much pains in the rectification of his faith, and must prefer its attainment to all other things.

"In the present age, people follow many ways. Some uphold the customs of their ancestors as precedents; others look to the stories of pious men for their guides; while, again, some follow the sayings invented by the Maulavis, from the ingenuity of their own minds; and others allow their own judgment to interfere; but the best of all ways is, to have for principles the words of God and his Apostle; to hold them alone as precedents, and not to allow our own opinion to be exercised. Such of the stories of the pious men, and the sayings of the Maulavis, as correspond with them, ought to be accepted, and the rest rejected.

It is a prevailing opinion among the common people, that it is difficult to comprehend the word of God and the Apostle: Much learning is required to divine them; we do not possess abilities enough to understand them; this course can be pursued by great men alone, and we are not able to do so; but for us, the sayings of these men are enough.' This is a great error, because God says that the contents of the Koran are very clear and plain, and that there is no difficulty in understanding it, as stated, &c. To understand these passages is not difficult, but to command one's spirit is rather difficult, because it dislikes submission. Hence, those only who are disobedient will disbelieve them. To comprehend the words of God and the Apostle, much learning is not wanted, for the Prophet was sent to show the

(1) I have sometimes slightly altered the wording.

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right way to the unwise, to persuade the ignorant, and to instruct illiterate men, as God states," &c.

Substitute texts of the Bible for those of the Koran, and how many words of the foregoing passage would have to be changed in order to make it into an orthodox Protestant discourse of the present day on the sufficiency of Holy Scripture?

Forgetting that God is nearer to his servants than any other, men have taken other mediators. And although, by persisting in this wrong path, they seek to be nearer unto God, they shall never obtain their desires, and will never get nearer to Him. Nay, the more they persist in this course, the more distant they will be from God.

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All the prophets who have come on missions on the part of God, have professed the same doctrine,-to serve the Lord, and worship none besides Him.

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Do not believe in any god but God, and entertain no fear lest by doing so you may be hurt by genii or devils. Men generally endure patiently the affliction which they experience in the world, and in the same manner they must not yield to the injuries they may receive from the genii, nor through fear acknowledge their power. Verily, everything is in the power of God alone; and sometimes, to try the faith of his servants, He causes the good to be hurt by a wicked man, that he may make a distinction between the firm and the infirm, and separate the unbelievers from the faithful. In like manner, God causes good men to be hurt by the hands of the genii and of Satan. They ought to submit to such grievances with patience, and not to recognise their authority through fear. As He in due time punishes tyrants, and relieves the oppressed from their tyranny, in the same manner He will chastise the oppressive genii, and thereby relieve good men from their injuries.. What

business, then, have we with others? When a person becomes the slave of a king, his sole dependence is on his own master, and not on another king; much less on a Chamar (outcast) or a sweeper.

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Although God is the King of kings, yet He is not proud like an earthly king, who from arrogance does not attend to the prayer of a distressed subject, so that the people are obliged to have recourse to his minister, and seek his patronage to gain their point. Nay, He is very benevolent and merciful;

there is no need of mediation with Him. He attends to every one who remembers Him, whether there is any to intercede for him or not. He is pure and holy-natured, and higher than all. His court is not like those of worldly rulers, to which none of the subjects can have access; so that, their only recourse being to the Ameers and Wuzeers, they are necessarily very submissive to the latter, and hang solely on them. But God is very close to his servants; if the humblest of thei be heartily devoted to Him, he will always find Him present, whether in the time of need or otherwise; there is no curtain between Him and a servant, beyond the latter's own negligence. If any one, therefore, be far away from God, is on account of his own negligence.

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"Anas says, that the Prophet said: 'You must ask all your wants of God, even to the suet for your pot, and strings of your shoes being broken.' We should not suppose that God is like earthly kings, who attend to important affairs themselves, and leave the rest to be done by their ministers, whereby people are obliged to have recourse to the latter. But the management of God's affairs is quite different. He is self-sufficient, and can attend Himself to scores of insignificant things. No one has any interference in his kingdom. The smallest things even should be asked of Him alone, because others can neither give small nor great.

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"We ought to be very fearful of God, because, although sometimes one of his servants is deeply involved in idolatry, yet to mislead him, He complies with all the requests which he makes to others, which circumstance impresses the transgressor with the conviction that he pursues a right path. We should not, therefore, place much trust in the attainment or non-attainment of our wishes; and ought not, in consequence, to abandon the true creed of the Unity of God."

Surely the above extracts show that in dealing with Indian Mahommedanism at the present day we are not dealing with a decrepit superstition, but with a creed embodying much of living truth; a creed which sabre nor bayonet, rifle nor revolver, grape nor shell, will put down, which can only be conquered by a faith more true and living than itself.

But now let us see the obverse of the medal,-that which explains how it is that the faith in a God who is 'very close to His servants" can yet impel those ser

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