Confessions of a British Spy and British Enmity Against Islam

orderedbytheMinistrytogiveyou.
“I shall tell you the second secret a month later, when you
returnthebookofonethousandpages.”
I read the book part by part from the beginning to the end,
focusingallmyattentiononit.Itincreasedmyinformationabout
the Muhammadans. Now I knew how they thought, what their
weaknesses were, what made them powerful, and how to
transformtheirpowerfulqualitiesintovulnerablespots.
Muslims’weakspotsasrecordedinthebookwereasfollows:
1- The Sunnite-Shiite controversy; the sovereign-people
controversy; [1]
the Turkish-Iranian controversy; the tribal
controversy;andthescholars-statescontroversy. [2]
2- With very few exceptions, Muslims are ignorant and
illiterate. [3]
3-Lackofspirituality,knowledge,andconscience. [4]
[1] This assertion is entirely wrong. It contradicts his former statement
that“itisfardtoobeythePâdishâh.”
[2] This is sheer calumniation. The written will of Osmân (’Uthmân)
Ghâzî,(thefirstOttomanPâdishâh),isadetailedexampleofthevalue
andhonourtheOttomanadministrationsetonthescholars.Allthe
Pâdishâhs granted the highest positions to the scholars. When the
jealous adversaries of Mawlânâ Khâlid Baghdâdî slanderously
denounced him to Mahmûd Khân II and demanded that he be
executed,theSultangavethiswidelyknownanswer:“Scholarswould
bynomeansbeharmfultotheState.”TheOttomanSultansgranted
ahouse,provisions,andahighsalarytoeveryscholar.
[3] Thebooksonreligion,ethics,îmân,andsciencewrittenbythousands
of Ottoman scholars are known universally. Peasants, who are
supposed to be the most illiterate sort of people, were very well
informed of their faith, worships, and craft. There were mosques,
schools,andmadrasasinallvillages.Villagersweretaughthowtoread
andwrite,religiousandworldlyknowledgeintheseplaces.Womenin
villagesknewhowtoreadQur’ânal-kerîm.MostscholarsandAwliyâ
werebroughtupandeducatedinvillages.
[4] TheOttomanMuslimswereveryfirmspiritually.Thepeoplewould
runforJihâdinordertoattainmartyrdom.Aftereachofthe(five)
daily prayers of namâz, as well as during every Friday Khutba, the
religiousmenwouldpronouncebenedictionsovertheKhalîfaandthe
State, and the whole congregation would say “Âmîn”. Christian
villagers,ontheotherhand,aremostlyilliterate,totallyunawareof
their faith and worldly knowledge, and therefore take the priests’
sermonsforgrantedandadheretotheliesandsuperstitionstheyhave
fabricated in the name of religion. They are like senseless flocks of
animals.
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