Wilson-Apostle To Islam.pdf - Radical Truth

80 Apostle to Islam In the Land of the Pyramids 81
:Missions he continued to edit The ~lIoslel1z ~Vorld. He plunged also with
renewed interest into work \ll,rith and for the Nile ~lission Press, as is shown
by his first New Year letter from Cairo, from which we may quote a few
paragraphs.
liTo Friends and Fellow \;Vorkers in America
Bulaq, Cairo, Egypt, Dec. 26, 1912.
"Dear Friends:-
"This letter carries my heartiest greetings for the New Year to
all ... and I \Vi5h to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation
of all that the American Committee has already done, by prayer and
sympathy and sacrifice, for the Nile ?-.lission Press and its work.
":IYIy three months' residence here in this great metropolis has
already confirmed my judgment that it is the one strategic place in
the ~loslem world from which we can influence every :\Ioslem land,
persistently and irresistibly, through the printed page.
"Egypt has practically become a British protectorate. Both :VIr.
'Cpson and myself have had personal interyie\vs with Lord Kitchener
and he is in full sympathy with the work that the Press is trying to
accomplish.
"Some of our special literature for 11os1ems has been translated
during the year and printed in India, South Africa, Persia, and China.
The Methodist Press at Lucknow has since the Conference printed
1,810,000 pages of our Khntbas in 'Urdu. We have received requests,
to which we could not respond, from the missionaries in Persia and
in India to cooperate in printing a Persian Bible dictionary, and an
English translation of the Koran with Arabic text, for use among
1Ioslems .... "
The letter continues with enthusiastic plans for the purchase of new buildings
for the Nile JYIission Press. Zwemer was not only working in the mat·
ter of financial promotion for the Press, but was busy on a series of Arabic
tracts, many of which became famous in Cairo and over the ;Vloslem world.
One of these entitled "Do You Pray" became so well known that people began
to use this as a title and he would be pointed out on the street with the
words, "There goes IDa You Pray:"
At Christmas time in 1912 William Borden arrived in Cairo. He was a
young missionary from America, a graduate of Yale University and Princeton
Theological Seminary. While in Seminary he had inherited a large
fortune. He was intent on doing mission work in the most difficult field he
could find, and had determined to work among ]lIoslems in China on the
borders of Tibet. He intended to open evangelistic and medical work and
would support the station himself.
He had made his decision for foreign service under Zwemer's inspiration
at a Student Volunteer Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, several years
earlier. Now he came to Cairo to learn Araqic before going on to his
Mohammedan field in China. To better acquire the language he lived with an
Egyptian family. He became a' familiar figure riding about town on his
bicycle, distributing tracts and doing such evangelistic work as he could.
His mother and sister left America to visit him in Cairo. Thev were on the
journey out when 'IBill" orne down with spinal meningitis. On April 9th,
1913, he passed on to higher service. Zwemer conducted the funeral. The
young life had been gil,"en up before he ever re:tchcd the mission field of his
w.1.oice. His sacrifice has been compared to the alabaster box of ointment,
poured out at the feet of the Christ who seeks the Moslem world as His Own
crown lands, where he liYed and died in the days of His flesh. The Borden
11emorial Hospital L.-1 Lanchow, Kansu, China, and other Christian institutions
eXIst today as liying monuments to the devotion and generosity of
this young Christian.
During ~Iarch there was a trip to Jedda in company with :VIr. Charles T.
Hooper ior tbe purpose of opening a Bible depot. They also visited Yembo,
the port of :Medina in Arabia. The trip was most successful. A colleague
describes another side of the venture.
"~Ir. Hooper, the agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society, was
planning a trip to Jedda which is the principal port oi disembarkation for
the ~Iohammedan pilgrims. Mr. Hooper's plan was to open a small shop in
this important town with the hope that Mohammedans coming and going
would buy portions of Scripture. And so it was decided that Dr. Zwemer
would accompany him on the trip.
"Anyone who has lived in close contact with Dr. Zwemer knows that his
mind is never idle and he was constantly making notes concerning articles
that would appear in The lvIoslem 117arid. vVhile these two men were sitting
in a government office there was a call on the telephone from Mecca and Dr.
Zwe:ner had a great thrill because he had actually heard the voice of someone
speaking from this holy city of the Mohammedans.
"After the return to Egypt some of us were asking Mr. Hooper concerning
the success of his project and also concerning the journey to Jedda and
back. He 'gave the information and then added, But never again with
Zwemer! .... When we asked what the trouble might be, he said that he
could not stay in bed for more than half an hour at a time .... for then, on
would go the light, Zwemer would get out of bed, get some paper and a
pencil, write a few sentences and then again to bed. When my eye-lids would
get heavy again, up would come Zwemer, on again the light, and another few
notes .... then off to bed again."
At many times in his life our missionary was down with a wide cateO"ory of
diseases. One of his closest calls came when Dr. and Mrs. Zwemer ;ere on
a Y)'I.C.A. picnic. He took part in various sports and e.,',