ISLAM

CHRISTIANITY VIS-A-VIS ISLAM 23
"To-day an illuminated Moslem does not respect
his Moslem social environment, whereas an
illuminated Christian remains faithful to his
Church.."
This is a quotation from The Turkish Revolution
by Djelal Nouri Bey which book Mr. Devonian
has profusely quoted. In the same book, however,
appears the following passage "Christianity lowered
:
men to the stage of animals. Thinking was unlawful
and expression of opinion was forbidden. Discussion
was regarded as a great sin. Men were regarded as
unclean creatures. God has come down to the
world in the person of Jesus and shed his blood in
order to wipe away the sin of Adam and Eve.
A woman having been the cause of sin, all women
were put under a ban. It was conceived a sin to
take care of the body, because of the curse
attached to it. Temporal affairs were overlooked and
the body was despised as an unclean thing. So
the body suffered with filth and poverty which were
considered as characteristics of a good person. It'
regarded as a sin to wash the body because of the
fear of washing away the baptismal water. In Spain
the Church forbade the use of water for washing. In
1467 A. D. Cardinal Spinoza destroyed the public baths
of the Arabs in Spain, and in Abyssinia even now
the people do not wash themselves in order not to
be like the Moslems, and they consider this as a
requirement of Christianity," and etc. etc. But this
is just by the way. We shall examine each and