3d, The concealed renunciation of every form of creed or dogma.
4th, A separation from those who live in error.
5th, The unity of “the Power” in all ages.
6th, Contentment with His will.
7th, Resignation to inevitable fate.
This then, I believe, is the true system of Druze initiation. The fantastic dogmas are but the husk of which this is the kernel. There is no real mysticism in the system, but simply a concealed scepticism which renounces even the most negative of religions—that of Muhammad. The inquirer who expects to discover a secret supernaturalism among these philosophers deceives himself, and would by them be regarded with contempt.
In the present chapter we have thus had occasion to refer to four developments of Moslem religion existing in Syria side by side with the Sunnee faith (the Metâwileh, the Ismailiyeh, the Anseiriyeh, and the Druze), and I may perhaps be pardoned a few words in addition on a question which of late has excited interest in England, namely, the comparative vitality of Christian and Moslem religion in lands where both exist together.
On this matter the views of the tourist visitor, however well stored his mind may be with knowledge obtained from books, have little permanent value. Nor will conversations, carried on by aid of a dragoman, with respectable Moslem doctors, or with peasants, really enable the new-comer to form a true opinion. Islam is not what it appears to be to the stranger, and Moslems do not, and indeed cannot, give to such a visitor a comprehensive view of their creed. It is necessary to live for many years in a Moslem country, and in daily contact with Moslems of all classes, in order really to know what they and their religion are like; and such contact will not lead the impartial observer to form a very high estimate of the practical results of Moslem teaching.
In the first place, Islam can only be regarded as a general term, like Christendom. There are in Islam as many antagonisms, as much indifference and disbelief, as many sects mutually hateful, as much discord and contention over abstract dogmas, as are to be found in the West. A general reconciliation and union is as impossible in the one case as in the other. But if we are to judge Christianity and Islam by their declared moral standards, Islam must stand second. It is, moreover, the most negative of faiths, distinguished by what it denies, not by what it maintains. The enthusiasm for Moslem religion which some writers express is but the natural reaction from that ignorant prejudice against the “wickedness of the false prophet” which used to mark our entire want of knowledge of Moslem belief; but this enthusiasm is also the result of imperfect knowledge, and it dies off as the student of Moslem life becomes more intimate with actual society in the East.
It is true that Islam spreads with rapid strides in countries where the Arabs are strong and where Christian teachers are weak. The conquered are forced to adopt the creed of the conqueror, but the conversion is not superior to the orthodoxy of Spain under the Inquisition; and the propaganda is the same as that of the persecuting days of mediæval Christianity. It is surely no mark of advanced religious culture that uniformity should be due to terror of the sword.