The Mohammedan population which the fall of Constantinople would
conceivably cut off from the main body could not at most number more
than some twenty millions, and when we remember that this is no more
than a tithe of the whole Mussulman census, and that the proportion is a
constantly decreasing one, it will be evident that there is little
ground for looking at the loss as one necessarily fatal to religion. The
northern races still give to Mohammedanism an appearance of physical
strength; but it is an appearance only, and it is given at the cost of
its intellectual vigour. The political success of the Turks has for
centuries thrown Islam off its moral equilibrium, and their
disappearance from its supreme counsels will give weight to races more
worthy of representing religious interests. Constantinople will be
replaced by Cairo or Mecca, and the Tartar by the Arab--an exchange
which, intellectually considered, no lover of Islam need deplore.
One great result the fall of Constantinople certainly will have, which I
believe will be a beneficial one. It will give to Mohammedanism a more
distinctly religious character than it has for many centuries possessed,
and by forcing believers to depend upon spiritual instead of temporal
arms will restore to them, more than any political victories could do,
their lost moral life.
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