The north-western
provinces of Persia, which are inhabited by Mussulmans of mixed race
speaking the Turkish language and largely interfused with Christian
Armenians, would, I am inclined to think, follow the destiny of the
West, and ultimately accept Christianity as a dominant religion. But,
east of the Caspian, Sunite Islam, though severely shaken, may yet hope
to survive and hold its ground for centuries.
The present policy of Russia, whatever it may be in Europe, is far from
hostile to Mohammedanism in Central Asia. As a religion it is even
protected there, and it is encouraged by the Government in its
missionary labours among the idolatrous tribes of the Steppes, and among
the Buddhists, who are largely accepting its doctrines in the extreme
East. Hitherto there has been no Christian colonization in the direction
of the Khanates, nor is there any indigenous form of Christianity.
Moreover, Central Asia, though connected by ties of sympathy with
Constantinople, has never been politically or even religiously dependent
on it. It has a university of its own in Bokhara, a seat of learning
still renowned throughout Asia, and it is thither and not to St. Sophia
that the Sunite Mussulmans east of the Caspian proceed for their
degrees.
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