Mohammedanism.
Though it is an undoubted fact that the various races of Berbers and Arabs have preserved much of their identity, it is also noticeable that, to a stranger arriving in the country for the first time, the inhabitants appear, as it were, to be fused into one race. This fusion is the result of their creed, for Mohammedanism has been drawn like a veil over the whole country.
Mohammed, through the Koran, gave to even daily labour the stamp of religion, and in a marvellous way moulded all the various races, who thus became “the faithful,” into one mode of thought and life, which gradually shaped them all to one pattern, although hereditary inclinations and customs contended, and are still contending, against such constraint.
The features which appear most strongly marked in these various races who have become Mussulmans, are their individual absorption in their religion and their family organisation.
The stubborn influence of Islamism on the community is entirely expressed in the phrase “Mektub” (it is written). Fatalism has destroyed all initiative, all progress. How men may act is immaterial. “It is written.”
To the Mussulmans, authority is of divine origin. Their creed ordains that everyone must bow to authority. This has given rise to the most complete absolutism, alike from the Bey, whose title is “The chosen of God and the owner of the kingdom of Tunisia,” down to the lowest of officials.
But yet the yoke may prove too heavy—then the oppressed revolt, as has so often happened.
The influence of religion is manifest in the treatment of the insane, whose utterances are held as sacred. The number of real and pretended lunatics is consequently very great. Hospitality is not exactly gladly offered to such afflicted persons, but they are permitted to take whatever they please from a house, a liberty often very widely interpreted. Latterly a madman in Tunis declared several houses to be under a ban. All the inmates at once fled, and could not be persuaded to return. This individual was also inspired with the sublime idea of erecting a barricade in one of the most populous streets, by means of doors which he lifted from their hinges.
The Prophet organised the family on the lines best adapted to the nomad tribes, who were destined to be great conquerors. He ordained the absorption of the vanquished into the family; while the males were killed or, if fortunate, made slaves, the women were allowed to enter the family.
This was the foundation of the rapid conquest of North Africa by Islam.