I had to think hard about posting this. I think Mr. Churchill had this bang on of course but sometimes I get discouraged by all this. I would prefer to be wrong to be honest. To think that Islam is just another approach to the same issues and trials we all face. That ultimatly its no different from any other so called ‘Abrahamic faith’.
In any case the source for this quote is here
On to Winnie
Sir Winston Churchill, from The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages
248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co.), 1899:
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
“Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as
hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The
effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly
systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of
property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
“A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement;
the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law
every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as
a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of
slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among
men.
“Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities – but the influence of
the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No
stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund,
Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already
spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every
step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms
of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the
civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of
ancient Rome.”
Thanks loads to Max who sent this to me. I have been thinking on it for days.
Eeyore
