ISLAM

26 ISLAM VERSUvS CHRISTIANITY
palace life ! If the head is so, what is the body ?
An American social worker among Moslem boys
once told me that the Moslem boys ought to be
given more information about the sexual life.
I said they already knew too much, and had experienced
too much
; they ought to know less.
Their books, their text-books, their holy books
are full of it. Sensual life is central in Islam.
The Moslem home atmosphere is full of
it. Iremember
once the Moslem mother next door to
our house heard her little boy (only six or seven
years of age) swearing terribly and cursing the
girls and boys. The mother being proud of this
turned to the father and said : "See how nicely
he swears !" The Turkish language is famous
for the immoral meanings it attaches to the
words ;
so it is with Arabic too. The Moslem
life is degenerate desperately . Vices liad entered
the palace, the government offices^ scliools, mosques,
families, dubs and everywhere. From top to bottom
it was corrupted. It is a terrible thing for a
child to be born in a Moslem family and to grow
up ivith a Moslem background. We ought to
realize this fully for two reasons. First, it will
save us from superficial appreciation of the
modern changes in Moslem land, as if the
whole Moslem life has been changed
completely. Mentalities which are the inheritance
of many generations do not change so