Puritanism, then, on a militant basis, even if preached by the Mohdy
himself, could hardly be either general or lasting, and its best result
would probably be, that after a transient burst of energy, which would
rouse the thought of Islam and renew her spiritual life, a humaner
spirit, as in Arabia would take its place, and lead to a more lasting,
because a more rational, reform.
But it was not to such a Puritan reformation that I was pointing when I
expressed my conviction that Islam would in the end work out her
salvation, nor do I hold it necessary that she should find any such
_deus ex machina_ as an inspired guide to point her out her road. Her
reformation is indeed already begun, and may be gradually carried to its
full results, by no violent means, and in a progressive, not a
reactionary spirit. This only can be the true one, for it is a law of
nations and of faiths, no less than of individuals, that they cannot
really return upon their years, and that all beneficial changes for them
must be to new conditions of life, not to old ones--to greater
knowledge, not to less--to freedom of thought, not to its enslavement.
Nor is there anything in the true principles of Islam to make such
progress an unnatural solution of her destiny.
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