§ 39. Statistics and Chronological Table. ESTIMATE OF THE MOHAMMEDAN POPULATION (According to Keith Johnston).
In Asia, 112,739,000
In Africa, 50,416,000
In Europe, 5,974,000
Total, . 169,129,000
MOHAMMEDANS UNDER CHRISTIAN GOVERNMENTS.
England in India rules over 41,000,000
Russia in Central Asia rules over 6,000,000
France in Africa rules over \ 2,000,000
Holland in Java and Celebes rules over 1,000,000
Total, 50,000,000
A. D. CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY.
570. Birth of Mohammed, at Mecca.
610. Mohammed received the visions of Gabriel and began his career as a prophet. (Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons).
622. The Hegira, or the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. Begin ning of the Mohammedan era.
632. (June 8) Death of Mohammed at Medina.
632. Abu Bekr, first Caliph or successor of Mohammed
636. Capture of Jerusalem by the Caliph Omar.
640. Capture of Alexandria by Omar.
711. Tharyk crosses the Straits from Africa to Europe, and calls the mountain Jebel Tharyk (Gibraltar).
732. Battle of Poitiers and Tours ; Abd-er-Rahman defeated by Charles Martel; Western Europe saved from Moslem conquest.
I 39. MOHAMMEDANISM, STATISTICS ANDCHRON. TABLE. 149
78G-809. Ilaroun al Rashid, Caliph of Bagdad. Golden era of Mohammed anism. (Correspondence with Charlemagne).
1063. Allp Arslan, Seljukian Turkish prince.
1096. The First Crusade. Capture of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon.
1187. Saladiu, the Sultan of Egypt and scourge of the Crusaders, conquers at Tiberias and takes Jerusalem, (1187) ; is defeated by Richard Coeur de Lion at Askelon, and dies 1193. Decline of the Crusades.
1288-1326. Reign of Othman, founder of the Ottoman (Turkish) dynasty.
1453. Capture of Constantinople by Mohammed II., "the Conqueror," and founder of the greatness of Turkey. (Exodus of Greek scholars to Southern Europe; the Greek Testament brought to the West; the revival of letters.)
1492. July 2. Boabdil (or Abou Abdallah) defeated by Ferdinand at Granada ; end of Moslem rule in Spain. (Discovery of America by Columbus).
1517. Ottoman Sultan Selim I. conquers Egypt, wrests the caliphate from the Arab line of the Koreish through Motawekkcl Billah, and transfers it to the Ottoman Sultans ; Ottoman caliphate never acknowledged by Persian or Moorish Moslems. (The Reformation.)
1521-1566. Solyman II., "the Magnificent," marks the zenith of the military power of the Turks; takes Belgrade (1521), defeats the Ilungariang (1526), but is repulsed from Vienna (1529 and 1532).
1571. Defeat of Selim II. at the naval battle of Lepanto by the Christian powers under Don John of Austria. Beginning of the decline of the Turkish power.
1683. Final repulse of the Turks at the gates of Vienna by John Sobieski, king of Poland, Sept. 12 ; Eastern Europe saved from Moslem rule.
1792. Peace at Jassy in Moldavia, which made the Dniester the frontier between Russia and Turkey.
1827. Annihilation of the Turko- Egyptian fleet by the combined squadrons of England, France, and Russia, in the battle of Navarino, October 20. Treaty of Adrianople, 1829. Independence of the kingdom of Greece, 1832.
1856. End of Crimean War ; Turkey saved by England and France aiding the Sultan against the aggression of Russia; Treaty of Paris; European agreement not to interfere in the domestic affairs of Turkey.
1878. Defeat of the Turks by Russia ; but checked by the interference of England under the lead of Lord Beaconsfield. Congress of the European pow ers, and Treaty of Berlin ; independence of Bulgaria secured ; Anglo- Turkish Treaty ; England occupies Cyprus — agrees to defend the fron tier of Asiatic Turkey against Russia, on condition that the Sultan execute fundamental reforms in Asiatic Turkey.
1880. Supplementary Conference at Berlin. Rectification and enlargement of the boundary of Montenegro and Greece.
150 FOUKTH PEKIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
§ 40. Position of Mohammedanism in Church History.
While new races and countries in Northern and Western Europe, unknown to the apostles, were added to the Christian Church, we behold in Asia and Africa the opposite spectacle of the rise and progress of a rival religion which is now acknow ledged by more than one-tenth of the inhabitants of the globe. It is called "Mohammedanism" from its founder, or "Islam," from its chief virtue, which is absolute surrender to the one true God. Like Christianity, it had its birth in the Shemitic race, the parent of the three monotheistic religions, but in an obscure and even desert district, and had a more rapid, though less enduring success.
But what a difference in the means employed and the results reached ! Christianity made its conquest by peaceful missiona ries and the power of persuasion, and carried with it the blessings of home, freedom and civilization. Mohammedanism conquered the fairest portions of the earth by the sword and cursed them by polygamy, slavery, despotism and desolation. The moving power of Christian missions was love to God and man ; the moving power of Islam was fanaticism and brute force. Chris tianity has found a home among all nations and climes ; Moham medanism, although it made a most vigorous effort to conquer the world, is after all a religion of the desert, of the tent and the caravan, and confined to nomad and savage or half-civilized nations, chiefly Arabs, Persians, and Turks. It never made an impression on Europe except by brute force ; it is only encamped, not really domesticated, in Constantinople, and when it must withdraw from Europe it will leave no trace behind.
Islam in its conquering march took forcible possession of the lands of the Bible, and the Greek church, seized the throne of Constantine, overran Spain, crossed the Pyrenees, and for a long time threatened even the church of Rome and the German empire, until it was finally repulsed beneath the walls of Vienna. The Crusades which figure so prominently in the history of mediaeval